Dark Sides
by DZR
Summary: Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. Magnus has had enough. Set after S2.
1. Chapter 1

_This fic began under massive inspiration from JenniferJF's story 'Hope' and AstraPerAspera's story 'Malorum Est'. Check out their work, you won't be disappointed. Also big thanks to the creators of Sanctuary and the characters with which they let us play._

* * *

**Dark Sides**

It took a lot to make Helen Magnus lose control, to break down and give in to the emotions which raged tumultuously inside her. In 158 years only two people had ever managed it. Two people she had willingly and gladly given her heart and soul to. She adored her father just as much but his departure from her life had been passive and non violent. John and Ashley had left her suddenly, violently and painfully and the remaining scars ran deep.

After John's betrayal she had only managed to let Ashley in behind the walls she had built up and even then not always willingly, it had become second nature to her to hold everyone at arms length. Luckily for both of them Ashley instinctively knew the way in and could waltz in behind those walls whenever she chose. Sometimes Henry unknowingly came close to scaling those barriers too.

Those same two people both breaking her heart within 6 months of each other had knocked her off balance, disturbing the precarious equilibrium she had long established. Ashley sacrificing herself and John returning and then reclaiming the beast, both leaving her.

It was getting harder to care, harder to get up in the morning. Helen found herself staring out of the window more often than she used to, not even day dreaming just blankly gazing at nothing. Tasks took longer to complete and it took much more effort to gain an interest in her work.

She had lost her lover, her daughter, her father, her friends and now her work was under threat. 158 years. How many more to go? How long could she survive, not physically but mentally, another 158 years or even another 158 minutes?

Three times Magnus had considered ending her own life. Two of those times she had taken steps toward achieving that goal.

The first time Ashley had saved her completely. Helen chose life instead of death and brought Ashley into the world.

The second time she had gone down the more passive route and searched for scientific methods of ending her immortality, only forgoing the search when it was revealed the solution would also end everyone else's lives not just her own.

The third time...

Her mind was almost made up, only one man stood in her way. Magnus leaned over and pressed a button on the intercom.

"Henry, would you come to my study please."

"Sure thing, Doc."

A message flicked up on the computer screen on her desk. Another message from one of the other Sanctuaries. There were a lot more than there used to be, the Sanctuary heads were a lot more vocal since Bertha. Their trust in her had been shaken, they were under Wexford's influence no doubt, becoming more vociferous, doubting her, questioning her, as undeniably they should. It wasn't easy, knowing your friends didn't trust you. No matter how noble your intentions had been.

"Henry," she hesitated, watching the young man she had raised walk into the room and stand before her.

Henry watched her with expectant curiosity. This was new. Magnus never hesitated.

"I'm going away for a little while." Damn it, she thought. She should have figured out what she was going to say before seeing him.

"Cool. What is it, a special artefact, abnormal sighting? Need any gear for the trip?" Henry was a little unnerved by how intently she was staring at him. "Is it something to do with werewolves?"

She sighed. This wasn't working, she would have to say it.

"I just want to be sure you're going to be ok."

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly. This had taken a tone he was not comfortable with.

"I'm going to destroy the remaining Cabal network."

Henry was more than a little shocked. Helen Magnus didn't destroy anything. It was her life's work to protect, defend and study the unknown. She did not destroy. He told her as much.

"Understandable but... you don't do stuff like that. That's what the bad guys do, remember?"

"I am doing this to protect the Sanctuary network. I will leave Will in charge of this facility, I am going to the heart of the Cabal and destroying it once and for all or it will return again and again."

"Why are you telling me this? What did Will have to say about this?"

"You are the first person I have told."

"Me?"

She nodded. He took a deep breath.

"Why me?" The look she gave him was heartbreaking. He already knew the answer. "You're not coming back, are you?"

She couldn't answer him. He yelled at her, the only time he ever had and ever would. He was absolutely outraged and to be truthful scared.

"I lost her too you know! And now you're going to leave me as well."

"Henry, I understand how you feel."

"Don't you dare tell me how I feel. You don't get to do that."

He stalked furiously around the room trying to calm the panic he could feel rising within him. He could not lose her as well. She gave him a minute to calm himself then said quietly.

"It is time for me to finish this. This is my life's work I will do whatever it takes to protect it. I already have done the unthinkable to defend it."

"This is wrong, this is so wrong," he shook his head as he paced. "The network heads, they'll come round everyone knows how much of an ass Wexford is."

He pleaded with her to see sense and wait out the storm. Her gaze was unwavering, her mind was made up. Henry didn't flinch as he met her gaze, a frown covering his features. There was only one thing left to do.

"I'm coming with you. You need all sorts of tech and a plan would be a great start. You do have a plan don't you?"

Helen sighed, she half expected this reaction from him, there was no reason she should have thought he would roll over and allow her this final mission.

"John took out most of the Cabal heads, literally I expect. Those remaining have no doubt regrouped and whilst they are reforming I will take advantage of their pooled resources and take them out."

"That's not a plan, it's a suicide mission."

"I appear to be immortal Henry."

"There's no such thing."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to the others."

"Ha!" he couldn't help it the word just burst out of him. "They'll come with you. Every one here will follow you to hell and back."

His vehement defence of the team made her smile.

"I know. That is why I will do this alone. This facility needs protecting and they are the line of defence I trust."

Henry paused.

"They. You said they," he smirked. "I'm coming with you."

"I don't want you to. I want you to stay here, _safe_."

"Like hell I'm staying here, I'm coming with you."

"I will not allow you to risk your life, Henry."

"It's my life to do whatever I choose with," he glared at her. A very forceful, stubborn glare. He must have picked that up from Ashley. "We'll start at the worst and work our way back from there. EMP's, a virus to annihilate their systems completely, crowbars - programs to force theirs open."

He looked up at Magnus watching him with a torn expression on her face.

"Ashley would kill me if I let you go off and do this on your own," he said by way of explanation, not ready to tell her how important she was to him. "Besides you know almost nothing about computer programming. We'd still be running on 3.11 if I hadn't insisted we upgrade."

Henry went a bit fuzzy for a second in Magnus' vision, she blinked and he came back into focus.

"Ashley would kill me if I let you get hurt," said Magnus.

"Then we'll both have to look out for each other and hope the worst doesn't happen."

Henry turned to leave the room. "I'll start getting stuff together."

"Henry, thank you."

"If you sneak off without me there will be trouble," he sniffed. "I know all the secret ways out, Ashley showed me. If you're set on doing this, I'm going to be standing right next to you when you do it."

I hope not, thought Magnus watching him walk away.

Third time lucky.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I have no destination in mind."

John Druitt teleported away from Helen, the creature screaming with delight in his mind as they left the trappings of matter behind them. They were together again, free to go where they willed, murder whoever they chose. John closed his eyes in despair. He didn't know what would happen without a destination. Would it hurt? Would it end? Did he care?

His eyes opened as his body hit solid rock. He was lying on a rocky surface like that found along a coastline or on a mountain side. The ground was level but he couldn't see more than a few metres away in any direction as he was engulfed in thick pale fog. The mist swirled around him, disturbed by his unconventional invasion into its realm. Nothing was visible but the rocks he rested on. He looked up at the fog above, were they clouds? An electrical storm appeared to be raging above. He couldn't see lightning but flashes of blue light sporadically illuminated the encompassing grey. There was no accompanying muffled thunder, no sound but the noise emanating from his chest, his rapid heart beat and ragged gasps for breath.

He scrambled to his feet and stared up at the only other sign of life. A flash of lightning cracked up in the hidden sky. The creature was missing from his body, expelled again. He guessed that was it, responsible for the lights in the sky. The Ripper, they had been separated again, but for how long and where the hell was he?

"Hello?" He called, his voice hoarse. He tried again not expecting an answer and received exactly that.

Where was he? He had to be up a mountain. He wasn't going to attempt a teleport with that malevolent parasite nearby. He'd have to walk down the mountain the old fashioned way, if it was indeed a mountain.

He began the trudge into the unknown, tripping over stones and slipping on wet rocks. He considered it strange that he didn't feel cold, there was no wind just boundless fog. What kind of a mountain was this? Time lost it's relevance as he marched on not paying attention to his path his mind focused on one thought, Helen. He thought of how he had left her and how recent events had reignited long absent hope. It wasn't the loss of the creature for that short time which had freed him from his despair, but seeing her again with his own unclouded vision. A goofy smile crossed his face. This was getting to be a habit, losing the creature. If only he could keep it that way. He'd climb down this mountain, this unusually level mountain, must be a plateau, march to the nearest town and get on the first plane back to Helen. No more teleporting.

Out of the corner of his eye illuminated by a blue flash of light he caught a glimpse of something which was not rock or fog, two things he was fast becoming an expert at identifying. He turned toward it, if he could see it, it couldn't be far.

It was another person. Sitting cross legged, eyes closed in some kind of meditation. Rather more calmly than he would have expected himself to feel he sat down in front of her. Her eyes remained closed.

"Ashley?"

He leaned over and gently nudged her. She didn't respond, her mind far away while the rest of her remained in a trance on a foggy rock.

He sat opposite her mirroring her crossed legs and waited, taking in every detail of her as though for the first time. After all, it was the first time without the creature. High up above electricity flashed through the grey. Despite his elation at stumbling across Ashley an ominous sense of foreboding crept up on him, this was no mountain.

As he stared at his daughter, her nose twitched and John sat up straighter in anticipation. She was coming back from wherever she had been. She opened her eyes.

"Hi." Ashley seemed unsurprised to find her father sitting right in front of her in the middle of a thick fog on a god forsaken rock.

"Hello," he said unable to prevent a smile from overtaking his entire face.

She stretched like a cat, yawned and moved her head from side to side stretching her neck muscles. She peered intently at him as though not believing he was really there. A phantom perhaps, or a dream. He didn't fade away into the mist as the other dreams had, just sat across from her with a happy grin on his face. She leaned over and poked him in the arm to see if he was as real as he looked. He was.

"Huh," she muttered. A small smile was quickly replaced with a worried frown. "As happy as I am to see you, and I never thought I'd say that, you do realise you're dead?"

"I don't feel dead. Do you?"

She looked puzzled.

"I don't know. I don't have anything to compare it to."

"You don't seem very surprised to see me here."

"No I don't," she said serenely, albeit mildly puzzled. "I suppose it was inevitable, you had it coming."

She stared at him with a calm air about her, a lot had changed since she had seen him last, for both of them.

"You look different," she observed. His appearance was the same but there was something about his eyes, they held a smile she had never seen before.

"As do you," he countered. She seemed calm, focused, controlled. She smiled as she realised what was different about him.

"You're my father," she whispered in wonder. She could see it in his eyes, he was untainted, the creature had gone. He returned the smile. A flash of blue light caught her attention. "That's new. It's not done that before."

"I think it came from me. The thing inside me." He began to explain thinking that she wouldn't know about the creature.

"I know," she interrupted him calmly. "I saw it all. If I concentrate I can see Mom sometimes. It's more difficult some times than others but when I do get through I can see what's going on around her. I saw you. I've just been with her, she was sad." She looked sad herself at the memory. "How did you get here?"

"I tried teleporting without a destination in mind, I had hoped it would destroy the creature, I didn't expect this. I must have been thinking of you instead." She smiled at that. "Where are we? How did you get here?"

"I woke up on the rocks." She shrugged. "That's it."

"Have you explored? Is there anything here?"

"I've walked I don't know how far. There's nothing but rock and fog. It's a bit Phantom zone-ish."

"Phantom zone-ish?" he looked lost at the reference.

"Like off Superman. It's a prison for super villains."

"Oh," he didn't look very happy at the suggestion they were bad guys or in prison, or both.

Ashley gave him a frank look. She had murdered people and so had he, it could be the reason they were here.

"Have you ever seen anyone else here?"

"Just you. Every now and then the light gets brighter but its mostly just dull grey."

"How long have you been here?"

"I don't know."

"Are you cold? What about food, sleep, warmth?"

She shrugged. "I'd forgotten about those things." She looked at him carefully. "This is you then, the real you."

"It is."

"What's the real you like?"

"I have no wish to murder anyone"

"That's always good to know."

"Have you tried teleporting away?"

"I don't know how to."

"What about the powers the Cabal gave you?"

"I don't know how to work them. Maybe I have to get angry but I don't feel like that here. It's just me."

"This place must strip you down to the bare soul. Just you, no hangers on," he said in wonder, looking up at a flash of lightning. "What happens now? What do you do here?"

"Think mostly. I've been wondering about these weird powers we have. I don't think ours is teleporting."

"Its not? That must be where I've been going wrong all this time." He joked trying to get a smile. She was distant and seemed preoccupied. He wondered what this place truly was and what it did to people.

"I've had a lot of time to think here, I've not spoken to anyone for what seems like forever. I've had to focus my energy on thought rather than action for a change. It's been an experience," the last sentence sounded like the old Ashley.

"If its not teleporting then what is it?"

"I think it's a kind of energy manipulation. Teleporting is only one extreme of it. At first you didn't know what your power was so, you tried it as hard and as fast as you could and ripped through space and time. You just had to go for it, so you put everything into a teleport or you might not come out the other end in one piece. I think there's more to it than that I just need to figure out how to work it. Besides, you know more about teleporting than me. You can extend it to other people and objects. Clara had to take her clothes off to be invisible she couldn't extend her power. Otherwise it would be like Terminator and we'd have to teleport naked."

John frowned. "Terminator?"

"You know the film. You mean to tell me you've never seen Terminator?"

"I don't watch films."

"What about Alien or Predator? They even made a movie about you. It wasn't very good or realistic and they got the wrong guy." She cocked her head to the side. "And I've just realised why Mom refused to watch that movie. Haven't you ever been to the movies?"

"In my day it was called the theatre."

"I'm trying to think what you might like. Probably a classic," she mused. "Henry's got an awesome collection, thousands of titles. Maybe Citizen Kane."

"Can we focus on the original discussion?" he asked mildly exasperated. "We are in a cloud. With a malevolent electrical creature causing a storm overhead. We don't know how our power works but it's apparently not teleporting and we may both be dead or in a prison for all we know."

"Well if you put it like that," she returned her focus to their predicament but not before admitting. "It is good to see you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In the garage situated in the basement of the Sanctuary, Henry and Magnus loaded bags of equipment and weapons into the back of Henry's van. The security cameras were conveniently pointed away from their covert operation.

"I've entered the co-ordinates you gave me into the vans GPS. It's a hidden facility at the base of the mountains. Times must be hard if they can't afford a new secret HQ and have to use a cave. Where did you get these co-ordinates from anyway?"

"Tesla, he has his uses."

"Hey guys," said Will, interrupting the secretive duo and making Henry jump guiltily.

He slammed the van door shut and tried to look inconspicuous, a difficult task under the gaze of a forensic psychologist.

"Where are you off to?" Will asked curiously. Magnus was as cool as a cucumber as she answered him.

"We received a call from an old friend. We're just popping out to give them a hand. We shouldn't be long."

"A hand doing what?" asked Will.

"Pest control."

"I see. Do you need any help?"

"We can manage. Would you mind checking the underground levels while we're away? There is an unusual smell emanating from the lift shaft. I think we may have a mirnak infestation again."

"What are mirnaks?"

"Oh, you'll see," she smiled serenely at him.

"No problem, I'll get Kate to help," and he sauntered off trying not to let his suspicions show. They were definitely up to something.

"What are mirnaks?" Henry asked puzzled, after Will had gone.

"A distraction."

"Won't he figure that out pretty soon?"

"It is inevitable that they will discover the truth, at least we can postpone it temporarily."

"The Big guy is gonna be so mad," Henry said with a worried air about him. Magnus looked at him sympathetically.

"If you wish to reconsider your decision, I would understand."

Henry snapped back to reality, his eyes narrowed as he realised she was trying to put him off again.

"With all due respect Doc, I am not letting you drive my van anywhere. Remember what happened the last time?"

"I thought we agreed to never again mention the incident."

"We did. I'm just saying, a complete re-spray of the bodywork is not easily forgotten."

Noticing the glare she was giving him Henry wisely changed the subject. Magnus' driving skills were legendary, for all the wrong reasons.

"Shall we go?"

* * *

Hours later, the Foss-mobile pulled up on a dirt track in what could be called, the middle of nowhere. Mountains towered away in the distance for as far as the eye could see.

"This is it," announced Henry. "This is as far as we can drive. According to this data the Cabal perimeter begins over the next rise."

Magnus handed Henry a gun.

"Uh," he didn't know what to say, Henry didn't use guns.

"Just in case," she reassured him. "Only use it if you have to."

Henry carefully put the gun in his belt and threw a bag of equipment over his shoulder. He handed Magnus his PDA with the route they had to take on the screen. They left the track and entered the forest for a short time before climbing out of the cover of the trees and down a rocky slope, sliding over scree and dusty soil until they reached a perimeter fence topped with electrified razor wire.

"If that doesn't just scream Cabal hospitality," said Henry grimly, remembering the last time he had faced the Cabal.

The fence ran for eleven kilometres along the mountainside and at the centre of the site was what once had been a cave, backing deep into the mountainside, originally used by cavemen, later as a nuclear bunker and now, Cabal HQ.

"The last time we tried to break into Cabal HQ, we got caught. They were watching us the whole time. This time I am prepared. I've got the access codes to one of their satellites and managed to patch into their security feed. I've put all the security cameras on a loop so they wont see us. I've also got a floor plan of the facility, we've got a route to the central server room and from there we can take control of all the central systems. All Cabal data will be ours," he finished with relish.

Magnus frowned, she hadn't planned on sneaking in, just walking through the front door and seeing what would happen had been her plan.

"Doc?" Henry noticed her preoccupation.

"It is imperative we gain access without them being alerted," stressed Magnus, reconsidering her idea now Henry had offered an alternate entry. "Then, I want to find the directors."

Henry listened carefully as she opened up a little and told him more about her mission.

"The Cabal have been recruiting heavily for security over the past few months. They are attempting to get their numbers back up after John took out so many of them. It seems as though they aren't having much luck at it, not many people want to work somewhere with such a high death rate."

"How do you know that?"

"Tesla."

"How does he know this stuff? I know he's supposed to be smart, but still."

"Who watches the watchers? The Cabal have been searching for him for a very long time and he is always a step ahead. I am certain he encourages them, he loves the attention."

Magnus and Henry ducked down behind a boulder as a perimeter security patrol went past. Two guards dressed in full combat gear with bullet proof vests and helmets, paused and surveyed the area as the trespassers listened in to their conversation.

"Will you try and look professional," one guard hissed at the other. "This is the first time they've let us out on our own."

"They must be some of the new recruits," whispered Magnus. "They look very young."

"Everyone looks 'very young' to you," Henry grinned cheekily at her.

One of the guards tripped up as they attempted to resume their patrol. A female voice could be heard cursing.

"Why didn't they give me boots that fit?" she moaned.

"I bet they pulled these off a dead agent to cut costs," mused the other guard.

"What?!" shrieked the clumsy guard.

"Shhhhh, try and be cool. Haven't you heard about the staff turnover at this place? It's higher than McDonalds, that's why they don't give out new uniforms to everyone."

"Just as well, because even McDonalds wouldn't employ us. A worldwide ban on all McDonalds just because you've got a mustard problem."

The blonde guard glared at her partner and sniffed hautily. "I bet those boots smell of the last guy to wear them."

"Ewwwww."

The blonde guard hoiked her gun over her shoulder and sighed.

"They don't really smell. I bet they sprayed them like they do in bowling alleys," she reassured her partner. "I wish they'd give us back our tasers, this gun is really heavy. C'mon we've got another 5 circuits to patrol before we can go for lunch. Todays special is cherry pie." They continued their patrol of the perimeter kicking up a cloud of dust as they walked, their position evident from miles away.

Magnus and Henry exchanged a grin, breaking in just got easier.

* * *

In the main hall of the Sanctuary, Will found Kate and Bigfoot peering intently into a recently delivered crate.

"Hey, where have Magnus and Henry gone, do you know?"

"Zip it Will or you'll wake them," warned Kate.

"They were looking awfully suspicious," said Will, ignoring her instruction. "They said they were going to help a friend with some pest control."

"Maybe they have," growled Bigfoot. "Don't you trust them?"

Will looked unsure of himself.

"I guess. It was a bit weird though. Have you noticed anything strange about them recently?"

"Something strange about Magnus and Henry?" Kate snorted. "No Will, whatever gave you that idea? They're as normal as pie, 158 year old werewolf pie with fangs. Geez, give it a rest. Don't you ever turn off the shrink thing?" asked Kate. "Now shut up or you'll wake these little guys."

"What are they?" Will asked, curious as to what was holding his colleagues rapt attention.

"Awww, they're so cute," he cooed and leaned over the box to stroke one of its occupants. He jumped backward and into the air as he screamed in pain.

"Arggh, get it off me, get it off me!"

What resembled a cute fluffy little dormouse while it slept was an angry pincushion of sharp fangs and spiked hackles attached by its teeth to Will's curious finger.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

John and Ashley sat across from each other in their almost deserted, eerie netherworld, solemnly contemplating their strange existence.

"What were you going to do? Just stay here?" Druitt asked her.

"Of course not," Ashley was indignant. "I'm not even here that much, I go and find Mom, except when I'm too tired. That's why I've been working on the energy manipulation thing."

"Tell me what you've found."

"OK," she said excitedly, happy to finally have someone to tell her discovery to. "Here it is. The Five, five people, five very different personalities. What if the power from the source blood adapted itself to suit those personalities? Walker wanted to disappear, Uncle James wanted to know everything, Tesla... there's no excuse for him," she smirked. "No, OK, he wanted it to be grand, Mom wanted enough time to complete all the work she had to do. Oh wow."

"What?" John was finding it an interesting experience trying to keep up with Ashley's ever changing thought process.

"What if all the abilities of the five are variations on a theme, all an aspect of energy manipulation. What if Mom's power isn't longevity?"

"Ashley she's 157, what else could it possibly be?"

"She's 158," she reminded him. "She could be sort of stuck... at a particular moment in time, her body hasn't moved from that moment."

"You mean, when she took the blood?"

"Or something more traumatic," she appraised the man in front of her. "Like the second you broke her heart." He looked as though she had just slapped him in the face but she pressed on with her rambling thoughts. "Then there's you. You wanted..." she looked at him expectantly, not knowing him well enough to figure it out yet. "What did you want?"

He took a moment to compose himself and found himself strangely able to confess the truth.

"To be free," he replied with a whisper. "When we took the blood I was in a difficult period of my life. I was struggling with work and with my family, I was scared of the depression I could feel creeping up on me. My mother was institutionalised for madness, my grandmother killed herself and I was terrified it would happen to me. I just wanted to get away, to be free." He laughed bitterly. "The other four were able to adapt and master their powers, all I managed was to release my darkest side and go on a killing spree."

Ashley leaned over and took his hands in hers, he stared down at the human contact. She looked determined as she said, "If you get me home, I'll get you home."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'll master this power if it's the last thing I do. Then, I should theoretically be able to get that ripper thing out. It is energy after all."

"Ashley," his expression said he didn't think that was likely.

"We are going home together," she said. "It wasn't your fault. I saw you in the Sanctuary free from the creature. I saw you and Mom in the cell. Couldn't you hear me screaming at you? That was before I realised what had happened and I thought it was the other you. Are you even listening to me?"

He was staring right past her unseeing, his mind revisiting violent memories.

"We are going home." Ashley brought him out of his reverie. "I will do this," she promised him, looking him straight in the eye. "I _can_ do this."

He leaned over and touched her cheek with his hand. "It's OK," he said, shaking his head sadly, she didn't have to promise him the impossible.

Feeling his despair and sadness in the unuttered emotion she could see in his eyes, she offered him hope. Evidence of her newfound abilities, her latest party trick.

"Watch, I'll show you what I can do. For the last time I am telling you, your power is not teleporting. That's only the extreme end of it. If you knew what it was and could use it properly, you could do this."

She held out her right arm and slowed her breathing focusing her attention on her arm. It turned invisible. She gasped for breath and it turned visible again.

"See," she grinned. "Or not to see."

"How did you do that?" he asked in astonishment.

"I just focus and as you told me once, think. It needs a lot of work but I'm getting better at it, I could only do a finger before." She gripped his hands tightly. "Now this one's somehow easier. Close your eyes and follow me."

"Follow you where?"

"Just follow me."

He closed his eyes and the grey mist faded away he could see himself and Ashley standing on the rocky ground, she turned and smirked at him, took his hand and made him follow her. She ran to the edge of a sheer rock face and jumped, pulling him with her. They fell faster than he believed possible and flew through thick cloud, still holding on to each other. Gradually they slowed in the air until he took further note of his surroundings and saw they were at the base of a mountain.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know, I guess Mom must be nearby."

Their surroundings were surreal like a dreamscape, sounds were muffled echoes and everything but that which they were looking at directly was blurred like tunnel vision.

"There's someone there!" Druitt pointed towards six Cabal agents running into a cave in the cliff face. "Cabal," he hissed.

"They can't hear you," explained Ashley. "They can't see you, hear you or feel you. I've tried everything."

They followed the agents through a door leading into a tunnel carved into the mountainside. As they turned a corner twenty Cabal agents ran toward them and Druitt paused in shock as they ran right through him.

"This way," said Ashley, unfazed by the ethereal goings on and grabbed his hand dragging him through a rock wall and into a huge underground cavern. The massive space could fit a jumbo jet in easily and was lit with huge spotlights and full of a variety of Cabal-black™ vehicles. Around thirty Cabal agents stood in a circle in the centre of the cavern. In the centre of that circle with their hands in the air were Magnus and Henry.

Furiously, Ashley ran through the troops and stood next to her mother.

"Mom!" No one batted an eyelid or acknowledged her presence. "Get the hell away from her," she snarled at the Cabal Lieutenant who was stepping forward from the others and addressing the prisoners.

As Ashley raged at the oblivious Cabal operative John did all he could and observed the scene. They were helpless here but the power to get the both of them out of this world and back to the land of the living where they were needed, where he hoped he was needed was within his grasp. He just had to pay the toll.

"Times up Ashley, lets go." Druitt grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "We have to get back to our bodies and find out how to get here."

She didn't take her eyes off her mother or stop swearing at the Cabal as he dragged her backwards through the rock and out into the daylight.

"How do we get back?"

"Just wake up," she muttered, her jaw clenched with frustration.

Druitt held on to her shoulders and tried to wake himself as though from a dream. His eyes opened and he looked up at the ever present creature rampaging about the unseen sky. Ashley was glaring at him with an angry and somehow at the same time despondent look about her.

"If I teleported in, I can teleport out," he said, not sounding very convincing.

"What about that thing?" Ashley nodded towards the creature running amok in the skies above.

"I suspect it will come along for the ride, as it were."

"There has to be a way to leave it here."

"I must get you home. If that's the price I have to pay, so be it. We have to teleport out. If I teleport that thing will be back along for the ride. This new idea, that it's not just teleporting, I think I'll be able to do something with that. Not yet, maybe not for a while but until then I have to back to that prison."

Ashley vowed ferociously. "We can do this, we have to do this. Nothing can touch your soul, no madness, no evil. And Mom, Mom has your heart safe. I'm not going to stop, I will figure this out, I'm the only one who can. I promise."

"When we get back... don't trust me." She stepped toward him and he held her in his arms. They both looked up at the barrier they had to cross to get back. "Ready?"

"No." She hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder. He thought he heard a muffled, "I love you."

"I love you too," he smiled, his voice full with emotion. He kissed the top of her head closed his eyes and they teleported.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Druitt and Ashley began their journey across the entire universe with the most economical form of transportation ever seen. They instinctively dissolved into atomic particles and tore through the fields of space-time, their minds united in their destination, home. Even in this form of existence a scream of pure malevolent outrage could be heard reverberating on an atomic level. On the other side of the galaxy life stopped for a second and stared up into space not understanding what was happening but sensing great darkness at work. The creature had sensed the humans movement through space and jumped into its favourite host as he attempted to race by it.

It had had many hosts over the years but this man was its most frustrating and it believed he would eventually be the most rewarding. It was a constant battle to persuade him to kill the female but he would not budge, would not accommodate the slightest hint of harming her. The creature revelled in the war they fought on a daily basis, but it hated the female more. They could be unstoppable, powerful, free, but she prevented it. And now there was offspring, yet another barrier for it to overcome. The man would not break the ties to these people. What it was incapable of understanding was; he could not break them, even if he wished it.

Druitt and Ashley materialised on the ruined remains of the bridge on the old city side of the river. Ashley collapsed to the ground, out of practice with her corporeal form, Druitt didn't even attempt to catch her as she fell from his arms, distracted by the roar of laughter as the creature settled happily in his mind once again. He grimaced and snarled as the creature settled, stretching and stamping all over his thoughts, it explored every newly exposed emotion to find out what had happened since they had been parted. There was always one piece of the man it couldn't see, couldn't touch, couldn't control and could not name. It did not know it was called, his heart.

Ashley stared up at Druitt as he wrestled with the creature, she could see it back again behind his eyes. The battle reached some kind of a balance and Druitt turned to face her on the floor. With a sneering glance at her weakness his voice rumbled.

"We have Cabal to kill."

He stalked off in the direction of the Sanctuary, trying to keep his distance from her to afford her a little protection from him. Ashley struggled to her feet and stumbled after him.

* * *

Despite Henry's previous disastrous experience at penetrating a Cabal base, it hadn't taken long for him and Magnus to walk smack dab into a squad of Cabal agents. The agents had been heading for the security checkpoint on a mundane mission to capture, torture, maim or murder, after receiving a new abnormal alert. If they hadn't caught them the entire taskforce of agents, systematically searching the facility for intruders would have. With numerous automatic machine guns pointed at their heads there was no option but to surrender. Magnus and Henry stood in the centre of the vehicle bay in the main cavern of the Cabal facility surrounded by soldiers.

"We've been waiting for you," said a Lieutenant, stepping forward and speaking for the Cabal while awaiting further orders. "The perimeter guards reported your presence immediately. Even if they hadn't, the fluctuations in the electric fence would have betrayed your trespass. A trick we learned from you in fact, Doctor, from your electro-magnetic shield around the Sanctuary."

Henry could have kicked himself. Fluctuations in electric fields were his main area of expertise. The hours he had spent on that EM shield, adjustments, revisions, upgrades, everything to make it more powerful, more efficient. He hadn't been aware of it's true purpose until Druitt had reappeared in the Doc's life and Ashley's, then it had all made sense, why the Doc was fanatical about it always running.

The Lieutenant cocked his head to the side listening to orders coming in over his earpiece.

"Take the intruders to the interrogation cell," he barked the command at his men. "Blindfolded. They've already seen too much."

Six agents stepped forward and shoved the unfortunate duo with the barrels of their guns in the direction of the cell. Magnus and Henry were dragged, prodded and shoved along what seemed like miles of corridors, up stairs, down stairs, around corners until finally they stopped and were ordered to sit down in something which felt like a dentists chair. As if that thought weren't scary enough as soon as they sat down metal restraints snapped into place around their arms and legs trapping them in the chairs.

A scientist, identifiable by her long white coat entered the room with a clipboard. She hesitated briefly before pulling off their blindfolds. Blinking in the bright light it took a few seconds to focus on the Cabal scientist. They were in a white room with overly bright circa 1980's harsh neon lights overhead. When their eyes had adjusted Magnus and Henry exchanged a glance, Henry had noticed it too, this woman was familiar somehow. The scientist sat down in front of the captives, her gravely voice croaked.

"So, this is the wonderful Doctor Magnus," she peered intently at Magnus with one green eye and the other grey. "Surely we should be honoured by your gratuitous presence. We know all about you and your pet dog." She cast a contemptuous glance at Henry which earned her a dose of the famous Magnus 'look'©.

"Come on now Doctor, we have shared a tour of the facility with you, now you share with us. You must have witnessed some incredible things in your time, dragons, fairies, mermaids. Tell me, wat is the most amazing thing you've ever seen?"

Henry stifled a laugh as Magnus' cool glare forced the scientist to look away with discomfort.

"Very well, have it your way," she said, standing and straightening her lab coat. "I was just making conversation, a little piece of normality before your interrogation begins. Dr. Smith will not be so pleasant, I can assure you."

Henry looked worriedly at Magnus. She wasn't reacting, not speaking, not caring.

"As for you Mr Foss, you'll remember Dr. Smith from your last appointment with us. He'll be happy to give you a check up," she said with a nasty smirk.

The scientist left the room and slammed the door behind her.

"Who is she?" asked Magnus puzzled. "I know her from somewhere." She turned her head to look at Henry who was fidgeting wildly with a panicked look about him.

"Henry, what is it?"

"Smith," he moaned, remembering his previous encounter with the man. He was not going to be tied up when they met again. Seeing a chance at escape, Magnus didn't interfere as Henry worked himself up into what was a cross between panic and rage, panic at the memories this place was bringing back he had tried so hard to block and rage that they would dare to try anything like that to him or Magnus again. His breathing deepened and became more ragged, his panting became snarls and he could feel the blood pounding in his head. With monumental effort he tore out of his restraints and they flew across the room clinking against the far wall as Henry stood up freed from his chair. He turned to Magnus who couldn't help the proud smile on her face. He had controlled it, the beast. He hadn't turned completely but used the strength and power of the werewolf within him without it overtaking him. Henry returned the smile, as the rage left him as quickly as it had come, he was amazed at what he had done.

"I hate the dentists" he deadpanned.

"Get to the control room," Magnus insisted. "We have to get control of the systems and download their data. You can free these restraints from there."

Henry nodded and ran from the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The front door of the Sanctuary burst open with a bang which reverberated throughout the building. Two of the three people in the entrance hall jumped in fright at the sound.

"Where's my mom?"

Will, Kate and Bigfoot stared open mouthed at the two ghosts in front of them.

"We don't have time for this," said Ashley exasperatedly. "Where has my mom gone?"

They remained staring with silent disbelief, Kate catching flies, Will squinting as though to correct his vision and Bigfoot with his head cocked to the side, they weren't sure if they were hallucinating or not, until Druitt bellowed at them.

"Someone tell me where Helen has gone, immediately!"

Kate regained her senses first.

"They... uh...we.... uh... we don't... know. Magnus has gone with Henry on some secret mission. They didn't even tell us they were going."

The front door flew open for a second time in the past minute with another bang as Nikola Tesla burst through the door. It was fortunate for Will, Kate and Bigfoot that you cannot shock the already shocked, not that it would have made any difference. As if Ashley and her father's reappearance had not stunned them enough, now the pain in the arse Tesla was in the mix. Will's eyes would have popped out of his head if at all possible at the sight and sounds in front of him. This should, in all reasonable manners of thinking, not be happening. Tesla panted for breath for a few seconds and seemed totally unfazed by the sight of Druitt and Ashley.

"She's gone to take on the Cabal," he shouted at them, despite the fact he had their full attention.

Tesla squeaked in fear as Druitt pinned him up against the wall by his neck and hissed at him.

"And how would _you_ know that?"

Tesla struggled to speak, without his vampire strength he was powerless against Druitt's fury.

"Uh, he can't breathe," pointed out Will.

"He doesn't need to breathe," said Druitt. "Just tell me where she is."

"He really can't breathe, he's not a vampire any more."

Druitt eyes narrowed with suspicion but he released his grip a fraction, only enough for Tesla to gasp for air.

"Talk fast, Nikola," growled Druitt.

"Helen contacted me days ago and asked for all the intelligence I had on the Cabal. She knows I watch them."

"What did you tell her?"

"They're regrouping, they've pooled their remaining resources and are rebuilding. They've been recruiting for more security staff and scientists. We didn't get them all," he spoke directly to Druitt as the man towered over him. "We missed someone, someone powerful."

"Where are they?" he demanded.

"There's a huge underground test facility in the mountains. There's been an increase in activity there. I think they do weapons testing, some of the things they've been stockpiling could be used to make weapons, bombs."

Druitt dropped him and he slid down the wall to the ground gasping deeply for breath.

"Why aren't you a vampire anymore?" he sneered at Tesla. Nikola glared at him.

"Why aren't you two dead?" he snarked in reply.

"He had a little accident" offered Kate, quickly coming to terms with the situation before her. "De-vamped himself."

Druitt roared with laughter.

"Let's go," said Ashley heading for the door.

"Wait, we're coming with you," said Will.

"No, you're really not," said Ashley. "You heard Nikola, prepare for the backlash, an attack by the Cabal. Big guy," he gave her a thoughtful look as she gave him his orders. "Black Alert. This is going to be massive." He nodded.

She turned to Nikola, a wild thought buzzing furiously in her mind. As he tried to regain some dignity and push himself off the floor she grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall again.

"Ooff."

"Nikola, I need you to build me a high security containment unit for electrical energy," she whispered furiously. "Don't say anything, just look like I just threatened you in a painful and horrible way for putting my mom in danger."

He open and closed his mouth helplessly like a gasping goldfish.

"Ashley!" exclaimed Will with a warning tone, still amazed at all which was unfolding before him.

She let go and he slid down the wall for a second time wheezing like an asthmatic who had just sprinted up a very steep hill.

"Later, when I get back", she said. "Be ready."

* * *

The electronic locking system buzzed and the door to the interrogation room swung open.

"Ha ha ha ha!!!" Henry laughed over the intercom, he sounded like a lunatic on a day out at a theme park. "We've got weapons, research, security, personnel, logistics, tech, finances, I am the King of the Cabal!"

Magnus didn't wait as the restraints retracted into the chair and was off out the door before they had clicked back to their reset position. Henry watched over the security cameras and directed Magnus to the control room.

"Left, right, second right. Up the stairs, level 5, wait! There's someone coming, hide in that room E-4. OK, all clear."

Within minutes Magnus was at Henry's side in the control room and alert systems had been returned to normal.

"Find the bigwigs, Henry."

"But don't you want to see what they're up to?"

"The director of this facility. Now, Henry."

"Coming up." He tapped away furiously on the keyboard. "There's an office in area E-5, Director of 'Blackrock'. That's the name for this place."

"Does this director have a name?"

"There's a picture. Hey that's the woman who was creeping us out."

"Henry."

"What's wrong with her face?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. The mugshot of the director looked as thought the face was not quite right.

"Name please Henry."

"Doctor D. Whitcomb." He stared at Magnus as he realised what name he had just read out. "That's not even possible," he muttered. "What the hell is going on?"

The atmosphere darkened as Magnus' resolve to destroy the Cabal hardened. The person responsible for inflicting Magnus with her greatest fear, was in the facility and worse had dared to show herself, flaunt herself before the unknowing duo. She was in the facility they now had control of. Henry roused Magnus from her dark thoughts.

"Holy pigshit batman!" he swore as he caught a glimpse of the security camera.

"Henry," Magnus said in a warning voice.

Seriously? He had just infiltrated the Cabal network, had total inside control of their systems operations and she was giving him a ticking off for his language. Sheesh.

"Doc, look at this."

Magnus came and stood alongside him as he rewound the footage. A blonde head ran past one of the security cameras.

"This is the real footage. Ours is till playing over the real time images. But this is the real deal." He looked at Magnus and kicked himself as he saw the emotion on her face. "It can't be, no I'm sorry, that was stupid."

"It's all right Henry," she said softly.

They were both watching the screen wistfully as a tall, bald headed man in a leather coat walked past the camera with his back to the lens.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A short teleport later to the location Tesla described and Druitt and Ashley had landed at the Cabal base. Ashley ran through the tunnel into the Cabal facility, toward the cavern she could see opening out ahead of her. A woman in a white lab coat scurried toward her, her head down and bumped into Ashley as she tried to go past, hopefully and hopelessly heading for the security checkpoint. Ashley stopped and stared at her as the woman nearly made a human shaped hole in the wall at the sight of the young woman before her, and froze to the spot like a deer caught in headlights.

"What do you want?" she gasped.

"Hello Dana," said Ashley, calmly.

"What? I'm, I'm not..."

"You can change your appearance but not the sickening stench of manipulation on you," she sniffed to emphasize her Cabal induced vampire skills. "Anyway, thought I'd just drop by and say 'Hi.'" She smirked, full of malicious intent. "You remember my dad."

"Doctor," Druitt spoke, his voice a low rumble of menacing thunder.

The woman whipped around so fast her glasses slipped off her nose and she pulled a muscle in her neck. John stepped out from the shadows of a doorway and stood in front of the woman, Ashley blocked her path back into the cavern, she was trapped between them. Dana stared in slack jawed horror at the predators.

"What happened to your face?" asked Ashley, mildly curious.

She gulped and stepped as far away from the both of them as possible which was only as far as the wall, she put her back to it, there was no way to escape.

"He left me for dead," she said in a hoarse whisper. "Left me for the vultures to pick to death, I had reconstructive surgery."

"Bummer."

"There's security everywhere, they'll be here any second," Whitcomb desperately tried to help herself. They stared at her in terrible heavy silence. Waiting for what, she didn't like to think.

Ashley, she was afraid of, but she had had control over her once and believed she could do it again, conditions permitting. Druitt however, instilled pure shaking terror into her. There was one other person Dana Whitcomb feared, more than anything or anyone else, the one person she had totally and utterly wronged and Jack the Ripper was a pussycat compared to when Helen Magnus lost her temper.

"I don't think they will," said Magnus, stepping out from the door carved into the rock face nearby, gun pointed at Whitcomb's head. She didn't so much as glance at John and Ashley, suspecting them to be more Cabal trickery or hallucinations, it wasn't like she'd never seen them before in her dreams.

"We have control of the Cabal systems, Henry is downloading all your data and then he's going to wipe out all your systems, but not before sending emergency shutdown protocols to all Cabal operatives. The Cabal are over. It takes a lot to make me lose my temper, Dana. You attack the Sanctuary and I will fight back. You attack my friends and family and I will fight you to the death. Still, to make me lose my temper, to make me come here and wipe out the Cabal, completely obliterate it from the surface of this planet..." If looks could kill Dana Whitcomb would be six feet under already. "You went and laid a finger on my daughter."

"I'm not the head of the Cabal, I'm not in charge," Whitcomb futilely whimpered.

"Whatever makes you think I care?" asked Magnus.

"They're using me as bait, to distract you. They've sent a team to take the Sanctuary."

"Do you know what happens to manipulative, traitorous bitches like you?" Magnus could only see the woman responsible for the greatest pain she had ever known before her.

"You can talk," snarled Whitcomb, lashing out in a last ditch of desperation.

"Mom."

Ashley's voice brought her back down to earth. It sounded so unfamiliar at first, so quiet and calm, but it was only the length of time they had been apart which made it seem like that.

"Mom, it's really me."

Magnus stood motionless, frozen to the spot, gun pointed at Whitcombs head but her eyes now fixed intensely on Ashley.

"We have to get back to the Sanctuary, Mom. Leave her."

Magnus looked up from Whitcomb to her daughter's worried face, meeting her eyes. Ashley was desperately trying to read her mothers thoughts, she had never seen her like this before. Stone cold. Ashley gave her mother a small smile which Helen unconsciously mirrored. The spell was broken.

"You asked me what the most amazing thing I had ever seen was," Magnus spoke to Whitcomb but didn't move her eyes from Ashley. "The answer is, my daughter."

Ashley launched herself into her mother's arms and threw her arms around her neck burying her face into her shoulder. They held each other as Druitt's murderous gaze pinned Whitcomb to the spot. No other measure was needed to prevent her from running.

"That's twice you've saved my life," Magnus whispered to her daughter. Tears ran down her face as she held Ashley's face in her hands.

"Twice?" Ashley whispered back.

"When I had you, it was you or my life, and today the same again."

"She's telling the truth Doc," Henrys voice came through on a walkie talkie. "A black ops team was dispatched about 15 minutes ago, headed for the Sanctuary. ETA, two hours."

"Recall them."

"I cant, they've gone radio silent. Doc, this is serious. They've got a bomb. They're going to blow up the Sanctuary."

"Meet us outside in ten minutes Henry, we're leaving."

"Us?" said Henry, but he didn't receive an answer.

Magnus walked away down the tunnel without another glance at Whitcomb, her arm around Ashley. She called back over her shoulder.

"You also asked me what the worst thing I had ever seen was. The worst thing I have ever seen is in a man."

Dana started to shake uncontrollably as the Magnus' walked away, leaving her standing before a cranky serial killer.

* * *

Magnus and Ashley stepped out of the tunnel, blinking at the daylight, both shaking with emotion but unwilling to let each other go. They slid down the rock face and sat in the dust, not needing to speak, simply holding on to each other as though if they let go the other would disappear.

"Where, what, how... is it really you?" Magnus asked in hushed tones.

"It is," Ashley murmured, her head resting on Magnus' shoulder. She closed her eyes and held on to her mother tightly. "Dad came and got me. It's a long story, but until there's more time, there's something I need to tell you."


	8. Chapter 8

_This chapter is for Chocolate and Drama and SparklySkater. You are both mad. What does that make me!?!_

* * *

Chapter 8

Ashley and Helen sat on the dusty ground as Cabal agents poured out of the facility and vehicles roared by. The agents ignored the two women, mainly because they had all received very strict instructions from Henry and were off to fulfil them, slightly under the influence of a promised pay rise for the first team to reach the sighting of a very rare abnormal at the North Pole.

"Where were you?" Magnus asked Ashley.

"I don't know. I think I was stuck in a teleport or... something like that." Even a near death experience couldn't stop Ashley from blathering away. She'd spent so long without anyone to talk to, it all came out at once and in no particular order.

"I've got so much to tell you, I've had so much to think about. I could see you sometimes and I know now that I belong here. I have to tell you about the energy manipulation and Dad. He's fighting it, I think he has more control this time, or maybe he's trying harder I don't know, he's staying away from me since we've got back. We've got to get that thing out of him."

Helen stared at her daughter, this was a different, more perceptive side to her.

"I know," she agreed. She was surprised by Ashley's next words.

"And I know how to do it. Theres no time to explain but, trust me?"

"Always. If this goes wrong..."

Ashley nodded, she knew the consequences could be terrible and irrevocable. They were prevented from further discussion by Henry, as he ran from the tunnel leading out of the Cabal facility and slipped in the dusty gravel landing on the ground before Magnus and Ashley, interrupting their peaceful reunion. He stared open mouthed at the blonde in front of him.

"Henry!" Ashley grinned, now even happier to be there to see her brother before her. The smile faded as he scrambled to his feet and held his gun up, his hand shaking.

"How do I know it's really you?" he asked.

"Henry, I swear it's me," protested Ashley clambering up and extricating herself from her mothers arms.

"Henry," interjected Magnus. "It's all right."

"No it's not," he shouted. "It could be a Cabal trick! They've done some freaky things, I know they've got some weird ideas."

"Henry," Ashley stepped towards him, her hands held up in a peaceful gesture.

"If it's really you then you know what to do. Prove it!" He sounded desperate so she grudgingly complied.

"OK, OK." She gave Magnus an apologetic look and felt quite thankful her father wasn't there to witness this, as she began to sing.

"Charlie you look quite down  
With your big sad eyes  
And your big fat frown  
The world doesn't have to be so gray.  
Charlie when your life's a mess  
When your feeling blue  
Or are in distress  
I know what can wipe that sad away.  
All you have to do is,"

Henry was nodding his head along in time to the song.

"Put a banana in your ear (a banana in my ear?)  
Put a ripe banana into your favorite ear  
It's true (says who?)  
So true  
Once it's in your gloom will dissapear  
The bad in the world is hard to hear  
When in your ear a banana cheers  
So go and put a banana in your ear."

"How many verses do I have to do?"

"You're nearly done, just the last bit."

"What are you two doing?" interrupted Magnus "We don't have time for this."

"Mom, please. We came up with this procedure years ago as a precaution for this precise situation and now we have the opportunity to use it we aren't going to miss out," explained Ashley, as though it were a matter of fact.

"Precise situation?" Magnus said to herself in confusion.

Druitt stepped out of the doorway behind Magnus, dusting off his long overcoat and raised an eyebrow as Ashley continued to sing.

"Put a banana in your ear (I'd rather keep my ear clear)  
You will never be happy  
If you live your life in fear  
It's true (says you) So true  
When it's in the skies are bright and clear  
Oh, every day of every year  
The sun shines bright in this big blue sphere  
So go and put a banana in your  
Earrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

Henry had been pacified by the song and lowered the weapon.

"No one could fake that awful singing voice. I believe you." They grinned at each other.

"OK, my turn." She raised her gun and pointed it at him. The smile quickly left Henry's face.

"Ashley!"

"It's OK Mom, we can teleport back, we'll be there in a second. I gotta do this. Henry was taken by the Cabal too, I need to know that it's really you."

"No fair," he muttered.

"Pop quiz asshole. You've got a hair trigger aimed at your head what do you do? What do you do?!" she shouted at him.

He gulped and thought quickly. He opened his mouth and began to sing, quietly at first then getting louder as he grew in confidence.

"When you're feeling all alone,  
The world's a drone,  
And nobody's shown any love to you.  
When your heart is cold as stone,  
Just change your tone,  
Get rid of that groan and the world will too.

'Cause swordfishes Love you!  
Jellyfishes Love you!  
Starfish - 'I LOVE YOU!'  
You know it's true,  
Catfishes Love you!  
Cuttlefishes Love you!  
Blowfish-  
'STARFISH REALLY LOVES YOU!'  
In The Ocean Blue."

Henry took a deep breath.

"Lung fish, black fish, alligator, Ice fish  
Armour head, hammer head, anaconda, flat head  
Manta ray, stingray, fang-tooth moray  
Goblin shark, grass carp, round-river-bat ray  
Noodle fish, hag fish, man o' war, lady fish  
Black eel, baby seal, sprat, koi, electric eel  
Lamprey, pejerey, yellow-edged moray  
Salmon shark, sleeper shark, featherback and eagle ray.

Well you can ignore this plea,  
That's fine with me,  
But one day you'll see that my words are true.  
What if ya find that you agree,  
I guarantee,  
That you will soon be feeling the love too.

'Cause swordfishes Love you!  
Jellyfishes Love you!  
Starfishes - 'I WANNA BE WITH YOU FOREVER!'  
You know it's true,  
Catfishes Love you!  
Cuttlefishes Love you!  
Blowfishes-  
'STARFISH! LOVE ME, LOVE ME!'  
In The Ocean Blue!"

As the two hugged each other laughing, Magnus and Druitt exchanged a perplexed look as though to say, 'Kids these days.'

The odd family of four rematerialized outside the Sanctuary grounds, out of reach of the EM field. Ashley and Magnus walked up the drive arm in arm, Henry bounding along next them and Druitt bringing up the rear in stony silence.

"You better not have touched any of my stuff," said Ashley to Henry.

"I only got the stuff that was mine in the first place, which you had pinched."

"Like what?"

"My original GameBoy, with Tetris."

"Like I would ever want to steal that piece of junk."

"You were addicted to it."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Was not."

"What was your max score?"

"45455," she blurted out without hesitating. There were some things you just did not forget.

"Ha!"

Ashley wrinkled her nose in a mock scowl and changed the subject, turning to her mother.

"So, you picked a fight with the Cabal. Clever. You know, if eternal life is all you're worried about, we can do something about that."

"We can?" Magnus raised an eyebrow, this ought to be interesting.

"Sure. We could chop your head off when you've had enough. Right Hen?" Henry nodded his agreement.

"Like on Highlander. There can be only one." He frowned. "What if it doesn't work and we're left with a living head?"

"Oh, well, we could keep it in a jar."

"Oooh, like on Star Trek with Spock's brain in a jar. Yeah!"

"Thank you both kindly for your consideration, I'm sure that won't be necessary," Magnus couldn't help but smile.

Her heart was quickly healing at having her daughter back and she was happy to see Ashley and Henry back together and falling in to their old teasing routine almost like nothing had happened. She could still sense a dark shadow behind her, Druitt was bringing up the rear but keeping his distance. The creature was back in him, she could see that, but it had never kept him at a distance to them before. Something was different. He was there to fight the Cabal but was deliberately holding himself away from them. Did he have more control this time?


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Will, Kate and Bigfoot were waiting impatiently as they entered the building. They did not look impressed at the triumphant return of Magnus and Ashley, after receiving news of all the trouble they were bringing trailing in their wake. Druitt cast a disgusted look around at the assembly and stalked off down one of the halls. Will opened his mouth to say something, looking at Ashley as he did.

"Long story, no time," said Ashley, cutting him off before he could start. "Henry, how long do we have?"

"1 hour 50 minutes."

"What can we expect?" asked Kate, eager to be as prepared as possible for the expected all out gun battle.

Magnus and Ashley turned to Henry who had been promoted to current resident expert on Cabal operations. He looked a bit green as he explained what he had found on the Cabal computers.

"Approximately sixty black ops agents and a small scale explosive device."

"How small, is small scale?" asked Will.

"It'll flatten the building but shouldn't do any damage outside of the grounds. It's designed to look like a gas explosion from the outside."

"Oh fun," muttered Kate.

"We've already evacuated as many residents as we could. Some have special requirements we can't accommodate in such a short time so we've sealed their quarters. Others are refusing to leave, they want to fight," Will explained to Magnus.

"Hopefully, that won't be necessary," Magnus sighed.

"Is Sally still here?" asked Ashley.

"How do you evacuate a mermaid, is what I want to know," pondered Kate.

"She was quite rude to me when I asked her to leave," said Will, his cheeks turning slightly red at the thought. "I don't need to be telepathic to understand what she was saying."

Magnus and Ashley exchanged a knowing smile.

"Hey, where's Tesla?" asked Ashley.

"He's in Henry's workshop," said Bigfoot.

"What's he doing in there?" said Henry indignantly. "He'd better not be messing with anything, it's all set out just the way I like it. He had better not have messed up my filing system, it took me years to perfect."

"Henry," interrupted Magnus, just in time as Tesla entered the area.

"Ahhh, the Magni. Welcome back, I hope you're all rested and have finished your undoubtedly happy reunion, because you've stirred up a nest of very angry Cabal who are hot on your tail as we speak."

"There's the door Nikola, you don't have to stick around if you'd rather not," offered Magnus.

"Ahem," Tesla ignored the barbed comment and continued to vent his irritation over Magnus' recent Cabal baiting tactics. "Mr Foss here, kindly sent a complete copy of the Cabal files back to the Sanctuary, some of which I have been perusing. I thought you may be interested to know. We are all going to die."

Magnus rolled her eyes, he could be so melodramatic sometimes. Noticing that the team didn't seem shocked by that reveal Tesla added more detail to his claim.

"I have been inspecting the schematics for the explosive device they are bringing along with them. We do not have the equipment to disarm it. It will be shielded from any electro magnetic pulse, which I assume was your intended mode of disarmament. It cannot be stopped."

"Prevention is better than cure. We will have to capture it before it is armed," said Magnus.

"What if we can't stop them at all?" Will asked the question they were all privately considering, aloud.

"Leave the bomb to me," said Magnus, assuredly. "The Cabal will be here shortly. Everyone, prepare for the worst."

"We're on black alert. Now you're back, we can lock down the building," growled Bigfoot.

"You all know what you have to do, meet in the lab in an hour."

As they dispersed, Bigfoot walked past Ashley and smacked her across the back of the head. "Welcome home."

"Thanks," she called after him with a grin.

* * *

Magnus sought out Druitt. She hadn't spoken to him since his return, the last time she had still rang in her mind. It had been outside the lab, within, the creature was waiting to reclaim his prey, and his words had hit her right in the heart. She found him on the roof standing at the very edge of the parapet brooding over the city. He was mesmerised by the glint of sunlight reflecting off the traffic below as it moved through the streets, snaking through the city like a giant abnormal. Magnus caught his attention as she stood up on the wall beside him.

"Stay away from me," he growled.

"No." she replied, crossing her arms and staring defiantly at him.

For a moment, he looked absolutely horrified. If the creature got the upper hand, even for a second, it would not hesitate to push her off the roof. His pupils dilated and he stared at her in fascination, as a cat would watch a mouse. A small, sneering smile dusted his lips. Jack spoke to her, looked at her with John's eyes and spoke with John's voice but it was the creature whose rasping words said.

"He cannot fight me forever."

Want to bet on that? thought Helen. "He will always resist," she said matter of factly, addressing the beast.

"He wouldn't let me hurt you. Each time I tried to get rid of you, cut you off from him he would not allow it, point blank refused. That force had to be released somehow. He couldn't save the others, they weren't you; he didn't love them. You are eternally protected by him." It leaned toward her and hissed the last sentence in her face, then stood upright and chuckled. "But he is only human, he grows weary."

A slow purely evil grin spread over John's face at the flicker of anger she could not prevent from escaping her control. The creature hated her with a passion equal to the amount John loved her. It was eternal deadlock.

"I require your assistance," said Magnus, calmly looking the Ripper in the eye. "We are about to be attacked, we need your help."

"Can you name one good reason I should?" Jack laughed at her.

"You just said it yourself. John will not stop fighting you for us. If you don't help us, we will all die, John included. Where would that leave you?"

Her faith in John's fighting spirit was about to be tested. Jack watched her, considering its options. The man would not leave them to imminent death, mortal danger maybe, but not certain death. He would resist, as always, the fool.

"What do you suggest?"

* * *

Ashley surveyed her room, her eagle eye covering ever inch to see if anything had changed. There wasn't even a layer of dust. The big guy had been busy.

"See? No ones touched it," came Henry's voice from over her shoulder. Ashley frowned.

"That dumbbell has moved an inch to the right," she said, pointing to the offending article. Henry rolled his eyes in response as Ashley turned around to see Henry and Tesla standing behind her. "Is it done?" she asked Tesla.

"It is," he replied smoothly.

"Have it ready in the lab before the meeting in half an hour. Henry told me about the de-vamper. I'll need that too." Tesla flashed Henry an irritated look. He didn't like people hearing about his unfortunate and frankly, unfair, accident. "Henry, take Nikola to the weapons store. He'll need a gun this time."

"What are you going to do?" asked Henry, loathe to allow Ashley out of his sight when Magnus wasn't around.

"I am going to go talk to Sally."

"About what? Underwater warfare?" Henry snorted.

"Girl stuff," she said, and sauntered off.

* * *

On her way back from meeting Sally and after a quick detour to the weapons cabinet Ashley jogged along a corridor, her arms full of weapons and ran straight into her mother on her way back from the roof. Magnus grabbed her daughter in a bear hug.

"It's OK, Mom, I've only been out of your sight for twenty minutes," Ashley joked. Magnus hugged her tighter and with her arms full, Ashley was unable to struggle.

"Do something for me," requested Magnus, releasing Ashley but still holding her as she stepped back and faced her.

"Sure, what is it?" said Ashley, with a warm smile.

"Talk to John."

The smile disappeared from her eyes.

"Why?"

"Just in case. This may be the closest he ever gets, let him know you don't hate him."

"What if I do hate him?" Ashley muttered, scowling like a child.

"I don't think you do."

"What am I supposed to say to him?"

"Hello, good morning. Stop avoiding him, it looks suspicious."

"I'm not avoiding him," she muttered. "Just that thing."

"I know. He brought you back to me. All I ask is for a hello." Ashley barely nodded but Magnus saw it, she pushed Ashleys hair back off her face and kissed her on the forehead. "Thankyou. Did you speak to Sally? Is she ready?"

"She's raring for a taste of Cabal."

"Good," said Magnus with a smile. "And what about you?"

Ashley sighed and looked down at the weapons in her arms.

"I'll go find him now."

She did not have far to go to find Druitt. As she turned a corner, there he was at the far end of the hall. Ashley stopped as John walked toward her from the opposite direction, he also stopped when he saw her hesitate. They were metres from each other. There was a heavy silence between them, then, Ashley walked up to him with a glower on her face. Druitt mirrored it.

"Go on then," he snapped, eager to get this over with.

"Go on what?"

"You look as though you are about to shoot me."

"No, I'm not."

"Good, I appreciate it."

"Alright then."

"Alright," and she walked off, making her way to the lab, considering her duty done.

* * *

Ashley stood on the outskirts of the main lab ensconced in the shadows, watching her friends and family who had gathered one final time before the invasion of their home began. Henry had his head in a laptop, Bigfoot was swinging what looked like two giant wooden staves, Will was looking decidedly nervous in his bullet proof vest and combat helmet clutching a Taser gun to his chest. Ashley winced, she hoped he knew how to use that, he probably didn't from the way he was hugging it. Kate stood by a pile of weapons and armour checking over every gun in front of her as though she were expecting World War Three. Magnus and Tesla had their heads bowed together and were quietly discussing something. By the time this day was out, everything would be different.

Druitt entered the room from the opposite side of the lab and Ashley stepped into the arena in response. Everybody except Magnus looked up in momentary surprise, as Ashley ran headlong across the room and viciously attacked Druitt.


	10. Chapter 10

_Remember kids, don't initiate an attack on a serial killer. That would be silly and won't end well for you. Also, it won't end well if he attacks you first._

* * *

Chapter 10

The spectators watched in horror as the two combatants circled each other. What the hell was Ashley doing, was the question running through everyone's minds. Except Magnus, she had a fair idea, even if she didn't like it very much.

Druitt laughed, a deep and booming sound at Ashley as she lunged for him, aiming a kick at his head.

"Did you really think I didn't see this one coming? I know what your old man's thinking, child. He cannot hide the truth from me."

Ashley rained blows down on him, forcing him back against the wall. His mocking laugh infuriated her and she redoubled her efforts, ferociously assailing him. He blocked and parried with his arms and managed to avoid some hits altogether.

"Why wont you fight me?" she yelled at him.

"I know what you're doing," he antagonised her in a sing song voice.

A solid left hook made contact with his jaw and he growled in anger, not so amused any more. He grabbed her fist in mid air as it moved towards his face and they stopped for a second, staring at each other.

"Idiot girl," he hissed at her. "He belongs to me. But, come and get him if you can, fool."

The roles reversed and Ashley went on the defensive as he attacked her, getting a lot more hits in than she had. She blocked and dodged in blinding speed as he furiously pummelled her. The others were at a loss as what to do, not wanting to get in a fight with Druitt who was frankly, the scariest man they had ever encountered, but also not wanting to leave Ashley to fight him alone. They looked to Magnus for guidance but she was focusing intently on the duel in front of her, the muscles in her jaw twitched at each blow which connected with either assailant.

With a roar of anger Druitt threw Ashley across the room where Henry kindly cushioned her fall. Henry helped Ashley up and for a moment everyone in the room all stood perfectly still, Ashley and Druitt's gaze locked on each other.

"Do you remember the last time I beat you?" he asked mockingly. "Or the time before that, _daughter_?"

He spat out the last word. It was the wrong thing to say. The one word which could wind Ashley up as no other could. She snapped, and with a snarl, ran for him, her hands heading for his neck. With a savage kick Druitt hit Ashley in the abdomen, temporarily winding her and knocking her onto the floor. She landed heavily and awkwardly on her right arm, pain flashed through her entire body making it difficult to see clearly. Magnus stepped closer to Ashley and raised her gun as Druitt sneered at them.

"You know what?" Ashley gasped, visibly struggling to get to her feet. "I know what he's thinking as well, and he doesn't want you at the controls anymore, psycho."

Druitt snarled and charged at Ashley, his movements full of clear intent. Without hesitation, Magnus fired her gun directly at him.

"NO!!!" screamed Ashley, she hadn't come this far just to lose him again.

Druitt's body twitched uncontrollably as the bullets ripped into him, but after the gunshots had finished echoing around the chamber, still he stood, a rueful smile on his face as he watched an unchecked tear trickle down Magnus' cheek.

"Helen, my love. I always knew you would be the death of me."

A shockwave of fear ran through Ashley, her anger dissipated in an instant as she watched as her father was gunned down in front of her. A horrible calm descended upon her as she regained her senses and control of herself. Time to finish this.

Druitt dropped to his knees, chuckling. Blood stained his teeth and a few drops fell from the corner of his mouth and splashed in the dust on the floor as Druitt watched, transfixed. Before he could say any more, or anyone could react, Ashley hit him full force in the chest, slamming her fists into him. To his, and everyone else's astonishment, her hands went right through his skin and into his chest. Her arms had turned to the swirling energy which appeared whenever she and her father teleported, however this time, the rest of her body remained solid.

"Get out of my father," she commanded the darkness, which stared out from behind his eyes.

He gazed at her, pure surprise written all over his face. She was beating him. He had never been beaten in a straight fight. This wasn't fair. She was even using the same powers that he possessed, against him, the bloody nerve of some people.

Sweat dripped from Ashley's brow, this impulsive new move which she didn't know she could do, let alone how she was doing it, was taking a lot of concentration.

"Nikola!" she roared, as Druitt began to convulse in her arms.

Tesla kicked a small metallic grey box along the floor to her, being sure to remain well out of the way of Druitt's flailing, always dangerous, arms.

"Step on it," he instructed her.

Ashley stamped a foot down on the pedal at the side of the box and it opened. A blindingly bright white light emanated from the interior shining upwards as a pillar of light, illuminating the entire room. Everyone shielded their eyes from the glare.

"Now!" shouted Tesla.

Ashley turned her entire body into teleporting energy but did not jump away from the scene, instead remaining in her pure energy form and passed through her father's body in front of her. A dark shadowy cloud of crackling electrical energy, like a mini thunderstorm, was forced out the other side of Druitt by her presence. The dark energy was, for a couple of seconds, the same shape and size as Druitt's body. Ashley rematerialized behind her father and caught his body as it dropped to the floor, unconscious. The electrical creature hovered for a second, perhaps in shock or maybe inhibited by its own rage, and was then sucked into the open box on the floor which closed after it.

Attention turned from the creatures imprisonment to the two combatants now crumpled in a heap on the floor. Tears ran down Ashley's cheeks as she held an unmoving Druitt in her arms, his tattered shirt was covered in blood and he was barely breathing.

"Get him to the infirmary, NOW!" Magnus screamed, while simultaneously running to get her medical equipment ready.

Bigfoot picked John up and out of Ashley's tired arms and carried him hurriedly to the infirmary next door, Tesla trailing behind, for once in serious silence. Ashley had her face in her hands futilely trying to stop crying. Kate kneeled down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Are you all right?" she asked, quietly.

Ashley dropped her hands and nodded, her teeth were gritted, she couldn't break down now. Her arm was throbbing, her ribs hurt and she was exhausted but there was still so much more to come.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say: What the hell was that?" Henry managed to stammer out.

"Magnus will look after him," reassured Will, looking mightily relieved now that the fight was over. "Are you hurt as well?"

She gave a non-committal hand flick in response.

"What did you do that to him for? He was going to help us," asked Kate, helping Ashley to her feet. "It would be kinda useful to have someone that bad ass on our side."

"He'd kill everyone," explained Ashley, groaning as pain tore through her ribs. "He wouldn't be a help, and the fighting and killing would only make him worse."

"What was that thing you did with your arms?" asked Henry. "That was new. It thought it was just teleporting you could do."

"Teleporting, amongst other things," said Ashley. "That was some of the other things." Ashley kicked the energy trap. "We need to get that thing to the SHU. Maximum EM resonance."

Everyone looked at it but no one went to touch it.

"I'd rather not go anywhere near that," said Will. "It might leak out, or something."

"It's like plutonium, you really don't want to be around it for too long," said Kate.

Henry didn't flinch as he lifted it up, intrigued by the strange machine Tesla had built. His examination of the device was interrupted by a beeping noise. Henry looked down at his PDA.

"Ahh crap, perimeter breach."

"Shove the containment unit over there. There's no time."

Henry put down the creatures prison and kicked it under a table up against the wall.

"It's too late. The Cabal are here."


	11. Chapter 11

_Viruses are evil. Go back up your stuff everybody before it's too late and the fist gnawing agony descends upon you._

* * *

Chapter 11

"We need to get Sally to the underground pool then get everyone else to the pool. Will, you and... no just you, everyone else is competent with a gun."

Ashley dished out orders sharply, now the Cabal were here there was no time for niceties.

"I don't think Sally would appreciate me ordering her around," whinged Will.

"Will," Ashley placed her hands on Will's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "You can moan about it forever, I promise. A_fterwards._ There is no other choice. Sally knows the plan and will be ready."

"There's a plan?"

"Of course there's a plan."

"I... it's not one of yours is it?" Ashley glared at him. "It's just you know these plans of yours aren't always too hot. In the last one you had, you died."

"Mom came up with the plan, now move it."

Will looked visibly relieved to hear that Magnus had input into the madness this time.

"The Big guy and Tesla will insist on staying with Mom and will keep her covered while she sorts Druitt. When you get the signal, you all leave and head for the pool."

"All including Druitt?"

"Including Druitt. I didn't go through all that to leave him behind."

"What's the signal?"

"You'll know it when you hear it."

"Dammit Ashley, you haven't decided what the signal is going to be, have you?" demanded Will, looking pale and very anxious at the impending doom.

"Kate, Henry, get upstairs to the South side windows and see how many agents you can pick off before they get inside. If you get forced back make sure you get to the pool."

"Why the pool?"

"If the bomb goes off and we can't stop it, it's our only way out. With Sally's help we might make it to the river."

"How are we going to stop the bomb?"

"We're not. The ripper is."

Despite the scarcity of time and imminent invasion there was a deafening silence as those words sank in.

"I'm sorry, hang on a second," said Henry. "For a moment there I thought you said 'The Ripper' is going to stop the bomb."

He gave a slightly maniacal, strained laugh. Ashley said nothing.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, Ashley! That is the most insane, really stupidest, asking for trouble, did I say insane thing I have ever heard in my life, and that is saying something working here."

"Hey, I already told you, Mom's plan."

"What happens to the ripper afterwards?"

Will, Kate and Henry stared at Ashley in horrified expectation, ready for it to get worse.

"I can't hear you," prompted Will.

"Don't worry about that, chances are we wont get that far and if we do, I've got something that should theoretically work. I'll figure something out."

"What!"

"Relax Henry. That was almost a joke."

"Ash, how am I going to get Sally to the pool?" asked Will, worriedly.

"As quickly as possible," she replied. "I don't know Will, use that unusually massive brain of yours and think of something."

An almighty boom shook the building. The air seemed to shake with the source of the explosion. Dust which had not seen the light of day for hundreds of years escaped from its imprisonment in the stones and filled the air making Henry sneeze.

"I would bet actual money that was the front door," said Henry. "Why can't they just knock like everyone else?" He hammered away at his computer pad remotely accessing the Sanctuary systems. "I'm closing the inside blast doors to try and compartmentalise them."

"OK everybody go, you know what you're doing. Keep checking in on the walkie talkies."

"Crap, Ash, they're stuck," said Henry, sounding slightly panicked.

"What are stuck?"

"The blast doors are half closed, they can get through they just need to duck. They've done something to the system. That explosion must have done some damage somewhere. Shit, Ash, I'm sorry." He apologised, feeling that as the tech was his domain, he had failed.

"Henry, its cool, be cool. When they bend down to clamber under the doors we'll whack 'em on the head, right?"

"Oh, yeah," he looked a bit relieved at that thought. "I guess. I'm sorry."

Kate grabbed him by the arm and they ran for the stairs, headed for some target practice.

* * *

"Helen, we can't stay here," said Tesla, getting twitchier by the second as the building shook in its foundations.

His survival instinct had kicked in ever since he'd been de-vamped and he did not like to place himself in such dangerous situations any more. He hadn't been a big fan of fighting, even with superpowers, but now it held even less appeal. His new mantra was: Those who fight and run away, live to fight another day.

"John has a collapsed lung. We can't move him in this condition he has to be stabilised or he won't stand a chance," said Magnus, working furiously on Druitt lying on the table beneath her.

Nikola didn't have the courage to say aloud the thought which was running through his head.

Leave him.

Nevertheless, Magnus looked up from John's unresponsive form and stared him straight in the eye. She knew what he was thinking. He looked away ashamed and decided to go with it and put his quick mind to work. He certainly didn't want to stay here and he wouldn't leave Helen to stay here either while the Cabal ransacked the place. If the only way she would leave was with John, then so be it.

"Helen, what about a sample of your blood? It may help him stabilize quicker."

Magnus frowned in thought, she had been so frantic with worry she hadn't even considered such a simple solution.

"It might work long enough until we can get him somewhere safe," said Nikola, finally choosing to stay and fight.

"All right, help me take a sample."

* * *

Henry and Kate peered out of a second floor window at the dark shapes, they presumed to be Cabal agents, pouring in an unending stream over the grounds toward the building. Henry looked nervously at his gun, he really didn't like those things.

"Henry, they're only tranqs and anyway, they're only bad guys."

He nodded, picked up his gun and started firing at the dark shadows crossing the lawn, satisfaction rising as they dropped to the ground. He looked over at Kate and she smiled back at him.

"First one to twenty wins."

"Wins what?"

"Another twenty to shoot at."

* * *

A secondary Cabal team stood in the main hall looking around. The initial team were checking ahead room by room. Two young agents came running up hurriedly to the Lieutenant in charge of the operation.

"Hey boss, we found something," one said proudly. "It looks like they've set a trap, or a bomb, or something."

"Just a minute," he held up a finger as he listened on his earpiece.

"Experiencing resistance on the second floor."

"Take them alive if possible," he said over the comm. to the point team.

He turned back to the eager young agents. He hadn't been sure if it was a good idea to bring along such inexperienced operatives but agents were thin on the ground and he didn't have time to be picky, besides, it sounded as though they'd had some success.

"I told you, don't call me boss. It's Lieutenant Black."

"Sure, whatever. This way, Lieutenant."

The agents led the Lieutenant to the main lab which had not long been vacated by the Sanctuary team.

"What have you got?" Lt. Black asked the explosives specialist already in place and studying the device.

"Possible explosive device. It's giving off a massive energy signature, the readings are off the scale. I've never seen anything like it."

"Carry out a controlled explosion. The only bombs going off here will be our own."

"Yes sir."

"You two," he turned and addressed the enthusiastic agents. "Guard this room. It lies at the heart of the building, once we've swept the rest of the Sanctuary this will be the ideal site to lay the explosives."

The two agents stood to attention. Lieutenant Black sighed at the sight they made as he went back to see how the rest of the invasion was going. He wondered how long they'd be able to stay in that pose for.

* * *

"Ha! Did you see that? That one did a somersault. Whah!"

Henry's cheer turned to a scream as a grappling hook flew past the window he was carefully peering out of and hooked itself over the edge of the sill. Kate pulled a knife out of her boot and sliced through the rope. A scream and a thud could be heard as someone fell off the loose rope and took the fast route back down to the ground. All at once grappling hooks started flying in through every window and the black clad agents began scaling the walls. They were coming in through every available entrance there was into the Sanctuary.

* * *

The explosives team meanwhile, were finishing up their preparation work on opening the mysterious box.

"OK, stand back, take cover."

An underwhelming thud and hissing noise were the only evidence of the controlled explosion. No one else in the Sanctuary was even aware an explosion had taken place until a few seconds later.

A roaring sound slowly filled the room and the air swirled around as though a tornado was picking up in the room with the Cabal. All sound was sucked into the vortex emanating from the box as the energy inside it was released. A black smoky substance like a portentous cloud filled the ceiling space and hovered over them. All the assembled agents stared in wonder at the contents of the box being unleashed like a genie.

The explosives expert screamed as a bolt of lightening flashed from the cloud and stabbed him straight through his heart, stopping it instantly. The two agents on guard aimed their weapons and fired in to the malevolent cloud.

Every person, human or abnormal, stopped for a second as the sounds reached every corner of the building. Everyone looked up as the screams of agony, the roar of mighty wind and then, gunfire ricocheted along the corridors.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

As the screams echoed around the stone corridors Ashley paused and looked up as she listened, an involuntary shiver ran down her spine. She had a Cabal agent in a headlock in her left arm and another agents head was trapped under her scuffed combat boot.

The Ripper was loose again. Crap.

She kicked another agent in the head as he ducked to get under the blast door and he crumpled to the ground unconscious. It was time to retreat, there were too many Cabal. They were becoming overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of them, her Mom was way too distracted with Druitt, she should be fighting at Ashley's side. Just to top it all, the Ripper was free and was killing indiscriminately, and might not be very pleased at how she had tricked it.

A signal, she had promised a signal. Surely that terrible screaming was hint enough for the Sanctuary people to move it. All the same, she picked up a discarded Cabal automatic pistol and fired it at the smoke detector. A piercing alarm rang out in every room, every hallway, stairwell and space. There was no mistaking the alarm signal.

Ashley cracked the butt of the pistol into the temple of another agent and ran to the infirmary. Magnus spun around, gun in hand as Ashley burst into the room.

"Mom! Is he ready? We've got to move. Where's the big guy?" she asked noticing her mother was alone for the moment. "And where the hell is that weasel, he's supposed to be covering you!"

"Bigfoot went to clobber some Cabal, they were getting too close for comfort. Nikola went to find him. We can move John for now although I can't fathom how we are going to get him out through the waterway."

"If we can dive down enough I can teleport along the tunnel. The EM field doesn't reach that far down." She stepped up next to her father.

"Is he going to be OK?" she asked quietly.

Magnus peeled off the blood covered gloves she had been wearing and rubbed her eyes trying to stave off tiredness.

"I honestly don't know. He's stable for now but he needs to be monitored and not in a building that may or may not blow up any time soon."

"The Ripper's loose," reported Ashley, getting all the bad news out into the open.

"I wondered what that awful noise was," Magnus sighed.

She looked down at Druitt, ghostly pale with blood splattered a vivid red on his white skin. She seemed to be staring without seeing.

"I don't know what to do," she said quietly. Ashley looked up at the unusual admission. "I can't leave him like this and I cant let you face that thing alone."

"I won't be alone. Mom, you have taught me everything I need to be able to face this."

Magnus looked at her thinking back to the last time she had had this terrible feeling, when she had granted Ashley permission to infiltrate Cabal HQ. Look how well _that _had turned out.

"I can handle it," insisted Ashley.

"Ashley."

Ashley looked at her pale critical father and then at her tired and anxious mother.

"I honestly believe I can do this," she said sincerely.

The message must have gotten across to Magnus somehow because she nodded slowly in response, accepting the answer. Before anything more could be said Tesla and Bigfoot entered the room, interrupting the scene.

"The immediate area is clear for now. We've barricaded the main hallway, they'll have to go the long way around to get here."

"Good, get to the pool," ordered Ashley. "I'm going to make sure the others are OK."

"Ashley," said Magnus as she turned to leave.

"I know," said Ashley in response to her mother's unsaid words.

"Be careful," they said together.

* * *

Ashley made her way to the underground pool using dusty, cobwebbed secret passages and hidden doors, using knowledge only a child who had grown up in the Sanctuary would ever have learned. The only people there were Will, currently rolling on the floor in pain, and Sally, with only the top of her head visible above the water, lurking like a hippopotamus. Ashley turned her attention to Will, lying in a puddle on the wet flagstone floor groaning in agony.

"Will, what happened? "

"Sally...," he whispered.

"Sally didn't do this," scoffed Ashley.

"Check Sally," he said.

Ashley looked at the pool where Sally stuck her head out of the water and gave Ashley a welcoming splash.

"She's alright, a bit jumpy. You did a good job Will, I doubted you could manage it but, a story for another time perhaps. You know, when we're not facing sudden death from all directions."

Magnus ran in to the room with her gun drawn, Bigfoot not far behind with John's unconscious body in his arms. Tesla followed flicking nervous looks behind them over his shoulder.

"What's happening?" asked Magnus taking in the scene before her.

"Sally refuses to swim," groaned Will.

Magnus went straight over to Sally and put her hand on her hair trying to calm the agitated mermaid.

"Shhh now, calm. What is it?" She listened intently to words none of the others could hear.

"She says there's something in the water and she not budging from Ashley and the guns."

"Oh great," said Tesla. "Our only exit and even the mermaid refuses to swim through it. What is down there and why is the boy wonder rolling around on the floor? What happened to you?"

"Tasered, guuuuuuhhhh," he moaned.

"Did you taser yourself?" asked Tesla with a distinct tone of disgust at the pathetic sight at his feet.

"Nooooo," he gasped. "It hurt."

"Shhh, quiet please." Magnus listened carefully as Sally imparted more details. "Ah," said Magnus. It was never good when Magnus was taken aback. "There's a giant garmagon, courtesy of the Cabal heading up the tunnel from the river. Its got one of its heads stuck, which will undoubtedly enrage it but we have a little time."

"What is a garmagon?" asked Bigfoot.

"It's a five headed tentacley snake monster thing, which eats people," explained Ashley. "We saw one in the Amazon once. I guess the Cabal saw it too."

"Oh."

"Well, doesn't this day just keep getting better and better. I'm not going down there to meet it," stated Tesla. "What do we do now? Choose between the Ripper, the Kraken or the Cabal plus bomb?"

"Crap."

Magnus and Tesla turned slowly to see what had caught Ashley's attention and made her shoulders slump in defeat. They too became visibly disheartened as they witnessed Henry and Kate entering the old stone chamber with their hands on their heads.

"We could always surrender," said Henry, walking into the room ahead of many Cabal.

Agents began to pour into the room surrounding the Sanctuary team, their weapons trained on each person.

"A wise suggestion," said Lt Black with a hint of smugness, training his gun on Ashley.

Henry and Kate had been cut off at the foot of the stairs as they had raced away from the invaders. Now, the entire team, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of cabal operatives were surrounded by gun toting black clad agents.

"I would strongly advise you to drop your weapons," said the Cabal leader, stepping forward.

A Cabal agent waved her gun under Ashley's nose indicating she should put her gun down. Kate rolled her eyes at the sight.

"What a sorry sight of a Cabal. They must be desperate, they're even hiring kids."

The lights flickered and alarms wailed off and on. Electrically operated doors could be heard opening and closing all around the building.

"What was that? Are you doing that?" the Lieutenant glared at Magnus. "Trying to scare us, it's pathetic. Go and check out that disturbance," he ordered the two over enthusiastic female agents.

"What us?"

"That's an order."

"But we're new, we might get eaten."

"Just do it!"

They walked off unenthusiastically in a little bit of a huff into a dusty old corridor with the lights flickering intermittently.

"Got any bullets left?" one asked the other.

"Nope, I used them all shooting at the cloud. You?"

"No. Why are we carrying around these stupid guns then?" The blonde threw hers down on the floor in disgust. "I told you this was stupid. We should have applied to work at the Sanctuary for the summer not the flaming Cabal."

"I thought we did! There must have been a mix up with the application. Oooh maybe the Cabal intercepted our applications and decided we were agent material."

"What was that?"

The blonde jumped around ready for action wielding the taser, overeager to use it.

"I didn't hear anything. Hey, where did you get that taser from? They were confiscated for misuse."

"Heh, heh, heh. That pansy with the bouffant hair electrocuted himself with it. He tried to taser me while soaking wet and standing in a pool of water. What an idiot."

The lights flickered and the two agents jumped into each others arms in fright, activating the taser.

'Zzzzap!'

"Arrrrrrrhhhgggghhh!"

* * *

"What was that?" The Operation team leader asked again, jumpily. "Where are those two idiots? Someone go find them."

Two more agents were dispatched to investigate the noises as the lights flickered off and on repeatedly, getting seemingly more frantic and turning the underground room into a surreal, haunted place with a strobe light effect as they got faster and faster.

"Is this your doing?" Lt. Black asked Magnus.

"Nah, boys," said Ashley, with a grin as she realised what was happening. "You woke up the Ripper."

"The... what?"

The power cut out completely and the emergency backup power kicked in bathing everyone in the red glow from the emergency lights.

"You heard."


	13. Chapter 13

_Sorry for the long wait, I've been struggling to write this fic from the start but we're almost at the one scene which flashed into my head months ago and which the whole fic grew around, so I hope that bit is good. _

_This chapter contains violence, blood and a naughty swear word. Not that the other chapters haven't, but this may be the first time I've thought to put a warning in. I'm not sure what happened but the Ripper has started talking like the emperor off Star Wars.

* * *

_

Chapter 13

The Sanctuary team huddled closer together under the emergency red lights, surrounding Bigfoot with Druitt still in his arms. Sally had disappeared into the pool understandably preferring to take her chances with the monster making its way through the waterway instead of the Ripper.

"What the hell is going on?" shouted Lt. Black. "There must be more of them. Keep your weapons trained on the prisoners."

"Uh, we're not your prisoners, dumbass," pointed out Kate.

She scowled as Lt Black stepped up in front of her and they stood nose to nose.

"We remember our own, Miss Freelander," he said menacingly. "And we remember those who betrayed us."

"Get away from her," shouted Henry, trying to struggle past Tesla to get to Kate.

He was quickly stopped with a sharp blow to the head with a rifle butt and fell to the floor. As the Sanctuary team moved to defend their own, forty gun barrels made them pause and think twice. Kate pulled Henry up off the floor.

"Nice one hero," she whispered.

"You idiots go and sweep the building again," Lt Black barked out orders.

"We already did sir, the facility is clear."

"You missed something."

"We didn't, sir. There were some abnormals in their cells but they're locked down."

"They're not cells," interrupted Magnus, in indignation at the suggestion.

"Shut up!" Black turned on her furiously, hissing in the red light.

Bigfoot growled in response eliciting a nervous glance from the Lieutenant. His assessment of the threat the Sanctuary team posed to him and his men was forgotten as he stared up over their heads, his mouth slightly ajar.

Noticing his stare, Magnus and Ashley exchanged a pained glance. They knew what was behind them.

The black cloud rolled into the room like a fog bank off the sea, filling the top half of the chamber with its smoky dark essence. Flashing electrical energy which brightened the room at intervals, it hovered above Druitt and those surrounding him all grouped tightly together by the pool. The guns of the Cabal were no longer trained on the team but slowly dropped to point at the floor in disbelief.

The stand off was forgotten as Magnus, Ashley, Tesla, Henry, Kate and Bigfoot with Druitt, slowly backed away from the poolside, widening the distance between them and the Cabal agents. The Cabal didn't even blink as they too retreated from the cloud. It didn't need saying to either side, that things had taken a turn for the very worst.

The air in the room became noticeably charged, not only with tension but close, like a thunderstorm was about to discharge from the sky.

"Time for Plan B", whispered Ashley. "Get ready to run."

The electric surge which had previously overridden the security lockdown and held the doors open was instantly relinquished and the high security blast doors finally thudded down to the ground in response to Ashley's whisper. The Ripper was listening, they were all trapped. Someone grabbed the back of her shirt in fright.

"Crap."

The cloud hovered ominously but temporarily benignly as the Cabal were ordered to spread out and take attack stance. In Bigfoot's arms Druitt stirred. Bigfoot set him on the ground his back resting against the cool stone wall with surprising gentleness as he came to his senses.

"What's happening?" he groaned.

Magnus crouched down next to him as Ashley, Henry, Kate and Henry formed a wall between them and the Ripper in a futile attempt to hide him. They flicked nervous glances from the Cabal to the Ripper, then to Druitt, as he spoke.

"No, don't," he said in a shocked whisper as he watched the Cabal form a circle around the room and take aim.

"Don't attack it, you'll make it worse," he tried to shout in his hoarse voice. "Don't look," he said to the Sanctuary team. "Don't watch," he begged them, as only the true John Druitt could, as the Cabal opened fire.

They all ducked down and bunched together in their group against the wall as bullets sprayed over them like a swarm of angry bees. Kate found herself wrapped in Henrys arms, Magnus and Ashley were together shielding Druitt, Bigfoot was on the outside of the huddle protecting everyone, Tesla was as far in the middle of the group as he could get, determined to be out of harms way as much as possible with Will squashed in between him and Magnus.

Deafening thunder rumbled around the room echoing off the walls making the old stones tremble, the sound reverberating on and on and on. Lightning crackled making the hair stood up on the back of everyone's necks and all over on Bigfoot.

After what seemed like eternity the noise quietened, the thunder rumbled its last and the unscathed Sanctuary team slowly looked up from the wall horrified at what they saw and all it entailed.

They had been spared.

The entire Cabal invasion force were scattered all over the room, broken bodies lay at all kinds of awkward angles over the ground, the flagstones were dark and slick with blood and bodies bobbed about on the waters surface of the pool. They all appeared dead.

The monster crackled in the roof space on the opposite side of the room, watching, waiting.

Ashley untangled herself from her mother's arms. This was it. What she had promised she was ready for and it was time to find out if it was true or not. With a glance she said a possible last farewell to her mother. As she turned to move, Druitt grabbed her shirt and pulled her toward him. She gasped in fright at the sudden movement from him.

"Don't do anything reckless," he said, pain still evident in his eyes.

"Who, me?" she flashed him a bright grin, full of courage yet tinged with regret. How could this possibly end any way but badly?

"Ashley! What are you doing?" Henry whispered loudly.

"Henry, shut up," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"But there's tentacles poking out of the pool," whispered Henry, sounding very unhappy.

She continued walking toward the creature until she reached the centre of the room and faced the monster which had for so long torn her family apart.

The monster laughed. They could hear it, the air swirling and rushing and electricity crackling moving up and down as though it were laughing. Mocking them.

"You want him?" Ashley challenged it. "You'll have to get through me first."

Magnus knelt at Druitt's side their hands entwined. To her horror, and everyone else there frozen in terror or unable to think of a single damn thing to do to diffuse this situation, it spoke.

"Ahh, the offspring. There is potential here. We could be mighty together, you and I. Forget them, join me."

Trembling slightly and she hoped imperceptibly, Ashley took a hold of her fear, took a deep breath, glowered Druitt style and replied.

"Dude. Shut the fuck up."

On that note, she teleported across the room heading straight for the creature. It reciprocated and flew toward her and they met in a clash of fluctuating energy, of dust and atoms and smoke and rage and thunder and lightning and electricity, wavering, rippling, crackling, whirling. A flash of blue light and the whole cloud cracked in what appeared to be an attempted teleport. Instead the cloud exploded and a shock wave rang out throwing bodies and the living spectators away from the centre of the explosion and against the walls.

Once more corporeal, Ashley flew backwards out of the cloud and across the floor, the bodies of what were once Cabal broke her fall and halted her slide. She got to her knees and they faced each other again, Ashley on the opposite side of the room separated from her family.

Magnus and Druitt were separated by the force of the blast, the cloud reforming overhead between them. Magnus made an attempt to move back to Druitt but the creature made it perfectly clear they were to remain parted.

"There is much anger in you, offspring. Join me and let it out, let your anger reign. Use all that power you are holding back and see what you can do, what your father could not. The universe is in your grasp. Other worlds. You have more understanding of your power than he. Unlimited power."

Ashley was on hers knees stunned by what she had just witnessed. The power of it was incredible. When it had looked into Ashley, she had looked back into it. She had seen those women murdered again over and over in its mind. They didn't have names in its thoughts just faces, screams, quantities of blood, and it had enjoyed every sick second, while dragging her unfortunate father along with it.

Like hell was she going to let that monster beat her, Ashley Magnus did not quit. Ashley Magnus could not quit. Failure was not an option.

"Unlimited power? Let's test that theory."

The creature unleashed a warning bolt of energy into the pool, spraying water everywhere. The tentacles retreated under the surface and were lost from sight.

"Choose," it demanded. "Come with me or I will kill her and go back to him, or, I will go back to him and _then_ kill her."

It screamed with laughter at the latter option.

There was no contest and she knew it. The inevitable lay in front of her. A knot twisted in her stomach as she stepped forward. She laboriously clambered to her knees.

"I choose, you," said Ashley, quietly and captured its delighted attention completely.

"No," shouted Helen.

Ashley couldn't look at her mother as she slowly took step after step away from her family.

"Don't Ashley," said John. "I'll take it back."

He tried to struggle to his feet but a blast of electrical energy knocked him back down to the ground, unconscious once more. The Ripper didn't want him any more. It wanted Ashley and all her anger and power, such potential.

She ignored all their pleas as the monster crackled excitedly. She steadily walked toward it and only stopped when she took the final step into the swirling energy of the Ripper.

Magnus screamed in anguish.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Magnus found her way to Druitt's side, silent tears ran down her cheeks leaving clear streaks through the dust and dirt which had settled on everyone after the long struggle they had endured this day.

The Ripper, the monster responsible for eight sickening murders and however many more they didn't know about, had destroyed her family again. She stared at the pulsating ball of electrical energy in front of her. It exuded awesome power, elemental, atomic energy fluctuating continuously. Her daughter was in there. She slumped back against the solid wall behind her, her heart, broken.

"Magnus?" said Will.

She didn't react and for once, despite his annoying training, Will didn't know what else to say. He looked around at the others his eyes coming to rest on Henry, could he do anything to help Magnus? Henry looked up at the sound of his name but his eyes stared blankly. He turned back to stare at the cloud and slowly frowned.

* * *

Deep in his unconscious Druitt 'woke' up on the familiar rocky ground where once before he had found Ashley. Above him the eternal mist swirled pacifically, there was nothing in it this time. The creature was otherwise engaged.

He rolled over and up on to his feet, groaning as his head throbbed with pain. That bloody ripper certainly knew where to hit him so that it hurt. He stood up straight and stretched like a large cat, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked around. How could he get out of here without Ashley's help this time?

Meditation was where she had found focus and determination, perhaps he should try that. He sat down with his long legs crossed and tried to concentrate. All he could think of was Ashley about to face the ripper, he had to get back there. Thinking of her was all he needed to do and he achieved what Ashley had had to learn the hard way. Focused on his daughter his eyes opened back in the chamber with the beast. He turned to look around and could see his body slumped against the wall, Helen sitting next to him staring forlornly at the cloud in the centre of the room which had swallowed their daughter. He turned and determinedly walked into the cloud.

Henry could make out the shape of a body in the smoke. Ashley's body, standing upright and therefore, possibly alive.

"Doc?" he shouted, his voice rising excitedly. She looked at him without enthusiasm. "I can see her, she's still there. Look."

The cloud shifted and air currents began to move the smoke so they could see within.

Druitt stood at Ashley's shoulder, watching, waiting. She was in a deadlock with the beast. To the outside observers they were frozen still, to Druitt they were in a face off and their time had relatively stopped. He could hear her heart racing and sensed the panic steadily rising as she struggled with the beast. He had a perfectly accurate suspicion that Ashley was under the impression she had bitten off more than she could chew. He could sense her heart thundering and her strength wavering in the face of this evil.

"It's alright Ashley, you can do this," he said, his tone level and steady.

But of course, she couldn't hear him. He sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder, but of course, she couldn't feel it. Undeterred he continued to talk to her in his calm and steady voice, full of reassurance and love and belief, the voice she should have heard throughout her childhood protecting her, watching over her, inspiring her.

"Its working," he said, still talking even though she couldn't respond. "You may be on to something with this energy manipulation idea of yours. I thought of you and here I am."

He willed her to hear him his heart breaking at the sight of her here, fighting alone. He willed her to know he was there standing beside her.

"Hesitate no more. It is time."

The wind breathed between them, howling a mournful lament and tousling Ashley's hair. Slowly, she reached out her hand, still uncertain and definitely afraid, but not alone. She stepped forward and the deadlock was broken; the simple movement set the world in motion again. Her eyes were wide with fear of the unknown, but there was something else there too: hope. She had the ability to do this now, she only needed to find the nerve. She had to find out what she was up against.

Ashley's arms swirled with pure unrestricted energy. She turned them deliberately into the teleporting phase, the only way to connect with the enveloping cloud which crackled with electrical energy. Her body remained stable, her head solid, only her arms were in fluctuation. She reached into the storm and grabbed the essence of the creature, the vital piece of its being and forced it into her teleporting state which she could then control as she did her own power. The energy creature reacted to this new threat by coalescing to form the figure of a man in the smoke. It screamed, a horrible high pitched wail, its face distorting as it struggled in her grip. A thin gaunt image of a man became visible to the shocked onlookers. The cloud was fused into the shape of a human.

"You were a man once," realised Ashley, in wonder.

She was unable to hide a tinge of disgust, not that she even attempted. All they had been afraid of, all they had thought they were fighting, was a man. He struggled desperately trying to free himself and snarled in her face. Her arms reformed and still holding on, temporarily trapped it in the form of the body. Unused to solid contact it was powerless to resist.

Ashley stared at it in fascinated horror. The many weird things this world continued to throw at her were unbelievable. She flinched, frightened by the face of madness, human madness. How could a man become so twisted and fall so far, to become such a terrible monster? She was so distracted by trying to figure out an answer she almost forgot her task until, she felt the touch of a hand on her shoulder. Large, warm and reassuring, reminding her of her duty. She turned her head but could see nothing in the mist. A whisper reached her but she couldn't make out what it said. For the first time in a long time she felt her confidence return. She sniffed and wrinkled up her nose.

"You are the complete opposite of what it means to be human. You are pure hatred," she spoke directly to the monster,

"Your attachment to others sickens me," it spat in her face.

Ashley turned its head forcing it to look toward John's body slumped against the wall with Helen by his side once more.

"Our attachment to others has kept him safe. It protects us from the likes of you," she hissed in what could have once been considered to be its ear.

"We could have been powerful but for his infernal preoccupation with her," it raged at Magnus, attempting to attack her.

"You sick and twisted piece of scum. Stay away from my family," she growled at it, nose to nose.

The fallen man was working itself up into a frenzy trying to pull away from this girl, this mere human girl who was stronger than it.

"Your hate is palpable, what are you waiting for?" it goaded her with relish. "You've hungered for this since you found out about your father. Take your revenge..."

The twisted scowl which had taken hold of her face was released as she understood how to beat the creature.

"I could hate you with a passion if I wanted, if I tried, for what you have done to us." She looked into what were once its eyes. "I don't give a damn about you. I don't care what happens to you. You can huff and puff and threaten us all you want. No one cares." She shoved its head in the direction of Magnus and Druitt again. "Look at them. I love them more than I hate you. Can you even comprehend that?"

The beasts screaming got louder as it tried to wrench itself free. Clouds filled the ceiling and swirled around instigating a whirlwind in the chamber, electricity fired from the cloud wildly flying around the room, bolts of lightning thrown indiscriminately.

Ashley refused to let go. Her face set in a stony determination at this beast which refused to leave her family alone. She waited for it to stop writhing, unconsciously reaching out a hand into the darkness and grasping at what should always have been there. Neither of them blinked as the Ripper stared into her eyes finally realising what pure shaking fear felt like as it began to comprehend what she was going to do to it. This shouldn't be happening. He was the one with the power. He was the one who must be obeyed.

She took the next step further into the extent of her power, a natural transition, and turned her arms into pure energy sinking her essence into what was once the heart of the monster. Its eyes opened in shock then it screamed in horror and thrashed wildly like a trapped animal. Ashley transformed the rest of herself into the teleportation state but remained in the same spot and dragged the creature with her into pure energy. The force of the teleport unknowingly shoved Druitt away from the centre of the confrontation and back to his body.

With a loud snap which sounded like the lash of a whip, Ashley rematerialized, forcing the ripper with her and transformed the infernal creature into a solid mass. The face of the man had turned, along with the rest of his body, into smoky blue, solid crystal. One of Ashley's hands was securely wrapped around its neck the other plunged into its chest where the heart should be. Silence rushed into the room filling the gap the whirling winds had left behind. All traces of the energy cloud were gone.

Breathing deeply, Ashley turned to look at her parents, Druitt once more conscious, who with the rest of the crew were staring at her in utter disbelief.

"I've got an ugly dead guy stuck on my arm and I am more than a little creeped out," she announced into the silence, sounding disgusted.

Unable to move she was helpless as Henry regained his wits first and jumped on her to hug her in relief and amazement and wonder.

"Hey c'mon, no fair, I'm stuck."

Over Henry's shoulder she smiled at her mother who was still coming out of her daze; all she could think was that Ashley's smile was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

"What? Is that it?" she said to the Sanctuary crew still sprawled all over the floor, reeling in shock. "No, 'Well done Ash, nice job.' Hmmph. Hey, Henry. Do you want his head? It could go on your wall."

"Uh, no thanks. It would only give me nightmares. Not that this day won't have scarred me for the rest of my life anyway."

With a frown and a decisive shake of her hands Ashley snapped the statues throat and ripped her hand out of its chest. The crystal man shattered into thousands of blue beads scattering all over the floor and covering the room.

She turned to the team just beginning to stir from the events whch had unfolded in front of them. They were unable to pick their jaws up from the ground or tear their eyes away from the triumphant girl. She unconsciously glowered at them, still dealing with the effort she had put into defeating the monster. She just managed to get out a few more words before her mother silenced her by cutting off her air supply with a bear hug.

"That's what you get for messing with a Magnus."

* * *

**So**, **what do you think? I had the idea of the creature turning to crystal and then shattering everywhere for ages but had to build up a whole fic around it. Seriously a whole fic just to get to that scene.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The few remaining Cabal who had survived the onslaught were slowly regaining consciousness. When they realised the ordeal they were now facing they dropped all their weapons in instant surrender. They weren't going to pick a fight with this girl. Will and Kate picked up the fallen weapons and corralled them into a group.

"Pssst, tentacles," hissed Henry, trying not to attract the said tentacles attention.

In the pool several large and slimy tentacles flopped about splashing people and waving about in the air. Sally was leaning over the edge of the pool her head resting on her hand looking thoroughly irritated at the splashing monster.

"I think he likes it here," said Will, with a grin.

The mood in the room had soared to new heights and in the calm after the commotion, humour reigned. John looked across at Helen after examining his bloody bandages.

"You shot me," he stated with a slight tinge of disbelief. "Again."

She shrugged with a smile.

"Ashley," growled Bigfoot as he kicked a mound of blue beads and watched with a sigh as they scattered and tinkled across the floor. "You're sweeping this up."

"That was so freakin' intense," gasped Henry, admitting his shock. "Arggh," he yelped as a tentacle enthusiastically prodded and investigated him.

"Aww, he likes you," laughed Kate, stopping suddenly as another tentacle pulled a Cabal body into the pool.

"Oh come on! There's no need for that," said Will in disgust.

With a splash the body was thrown out of the water and landed on Will.

"I guess Cabal taste like crap," reasoned Kate, watching Will struggle out from under the body but not moving to help him up.

Tesla watched the group as they lightly revelled in their victory high. He rolled his eyes with mild disgust. It was up to him to be the only one with any sense. Helen was understandably distracted what with making eyes at Druitt and Ashley's return.

"I hate to be the party pooper but... did I hear rumour of a bomb somewhere?" said Tesla.

Their faces fell.

"I don't think I can stand up for very much longer," admitted Ashley.

"Let me deal with it," offered Druitt.

"And what do you know about explosives?" sneered Tesla, much aggrieved to find he was a tiny, insignificantly minisculey bit pleased that John was free of his burden.

"I shall teleport it, genius," he shot back with a hard stare.

There was an almost awkward silence as John looked at Helen and Ashley. Where did they all stand now, he wondered. He wasn't the only one wondering. Magnus nodded her consent.

"What shall we do with this lot?" asked Kate, still guarding the remaining Cabal and waving a gun menacingly around their heads.

"Go back to your leaders, whoever they are," Magnus ordered the prisoners, "And tell them not to bother us again."

"The Sanctuary is defended," said Ashley, insinuating all their imaginations could dream up.

"Doc, there's two more out here," called Henry from the hallway where he had been trying to get away from his new, tentacled friend. "It's the two teenage agents. I think they're unconscious. What shall we do with them?"

"Put them in the infirmary and I will check them over shortly. They shouldn't be running around with the Cabal, that's for certain."

"And then?"

"They can clean up this mess they helped create. And then we'll send them home."

"But they're Cabal," protested Will.

"They are children, Will."

"That one tasered me!" He pointed an accusing finger at one of the girls.

"You tasered yourself," came a loud whisper from the brunette lying flat out on the floor with her eyes shut, arms and legs all over the place in 'pretend to be dead' mode.

"I did not!" shrieked Will.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Enough!" ordered Magnus. "Henry, take John and Nikola to the lab and find that bomb. See if you can diffuse it. If not, release the security systems and shut down the EM field so John can teleport it away."

"Sure, but when this is over can I have bomb diffusing lessons?" Magnus gave him a look. "I'm just saying, with hindsight they would be useful."

He scurried after Druitt and Tesla as they stalked down the corridor towards the main lab. Nikola was walking faster than he usually would trying not to let Druitt get ahead of him. Even injured Druitt's lengthy stride outpaced Tesla.

As the team went about their tasks Magnus wrapped an arm around Ashley's waist and let her rest her weight on her as they made their way from the pool area.

Finding themselves alone for the moment they exchanged a glance as they both noticed the silence hanging between them. What was there to say? Magnus said everything which needed to be said with a kiss to Ashley's temple. Ashley rested her head on her mothers shoulder as she was led to her bedroom. She was too tired to notice it hadn't changed a jot since she'd been 'dead'. Eventually she would realise there was not a speck of dust in the room. Magnus had not allowed anything to be touched and the Big guy had made sure that not even dust was allowed to interfere with Ashley's belongings.

They say down on the edge of the bed Ashley futily trying to stop her eyes from closing.

"Can't sleep, we might blow up," she murmured sleepily.

"No, we wont."

"But there's a bomb."

"John and Nikola will handle it." Ashley gave her funny sideways look. "They may be trouble but I have faith in them. Besides, Henry is with them." she added as though Henry would have any affect on the two egotistical maniacs.

"You sure?" Ashley mumbled sleepily.

"I'm sure."

With that affirmation along with her complete faith in her mother, Ashley felt no apprehension in falling fast asleep.

* * *

Hours later, Ashley awoke in her own bed in the Sanctuary for the first time in almost a year. She buried her face in her warm pillow and stretched in the comfortable bed. She looked down and realised she had miraculously ended up in her pyjamas. How had that happened? She rolled over to find her mother sitting on the chair in her room watching over her.

"Mo-om. I wish you wouldn't do that, it's kinda creepy."

"Sorry. I was a bit worried that you'd disappear again if I let you out of my sight."

Ashley sat up suddenly and looked around, a puzzled frown on her face.

"Wait a minute. We haven't blown up."

"Correct."

"They did it?" she said as though she hadn't really believed they could.

"How are you feeling?" asked Magnus.

"What happened with the bomb, Mom?" Asked Ashley, ignoring the query to her health. "How long have I been asleep?"

Magnus sighed.

"Only a few hours, not long enough. As for the bomb, they spent so long arguing about how to diffuse it they ran out of time and your father had to teleport it somewhere in the ocean. He was soaking wet when he returned. Now, how are you feeling?"

"You sound like Will."

"Ashley."

"I feel like I got beaten up by a tornado then dragged through the Rockies by my hair, kicked in the ribs by a herd of Ozaugh and now need another years worth of sleep," she said without hesitating. "And I could eat a scabby horse."

Magnus wrinkled her nose at the colourful turn of phrase.

"Well almost all right then."

"Where is everyone?"

"Don't you want to get cleaned up and changed first?"

"I want to see everyone is okay first."

"Very well, come and see," said Magnus unable to deny Ashley her wish and with a smile held out her hand.

They made their way through the building to the main door and opened it to step outside. Ashley stood barefoot on the warm top step to the Sanctuary, squinting in the strong sunlight with her hair ruffled from sleep and in her creased pyjamas. She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the brightness. It was a beautiful sunny day. The sky was blue and clear from clouds, it one of those spring days which were almost summer and warm enough to sit out in the sunshine. Ashley sat down on the top step and looked around at the group of cut throats, murderers, mercenaries, monsters, vampires, werewolves, hunters, geniuses. All friends and family. They all smiled and winked as she joined them in their temporary haven of tranquility.

Everyone was sprawled over the steps and surrounding lawn soaking up the sunshine. The mood had never been so peaceful amongst them and a aura of quiet thankfulness for just being alive pervaded the scene.

Kate lay on her front on the grass making a daisy chain of all things. Henry was lying on his back near her, staring up into the sky and trying to avoid the odd daisy which was flicked at him. Will sat on the bottom step observing everyone, just relishing this unprecedented moment of harmony. Bigfoot sat next to him with his face tilted towards the sun letting the warmth penetrate his fur. His nose was in the air sniffing the breeze either on alert or just enjoying the outdoors.

Even Nikola was there, leaning against a pillar and staring at the ground lost in thought, probably counting the bits of gravel.

Ashley leaned back against the wall and smiled at her father who was sitting on the bottom step with a slightly bedraggled air about him. His long leather coat was laid out on the grass to dry after it's urgent dunking in the North Pacific.

He returned the smile as her mother sat down next to her and they all for once sat in companionable existence.

"Welcome home," Magnus whispered in her ear.

Ashley leaned back onto her mother and sighed, perfectly content.

END

* * *

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed and sent me weird rambling PM's. Dark Sides is dedicated to you and thanks for your support._

_TalitaF, Japanese and Choclate, Carla-Leigh, SparklySkater, Misery Loves Sarah, Chocolate and Drama, Melandu95, MelissaAdams22, Fell4, Fell3, forensicirulan, Yang of Yin, BookwormAvey, cj1013, VampirexXxDemon, InHisTime, CatzChaos, Marikalay._


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